#tston> of Oregon 


A Teachers’ Outline 
for Use 

in the Eighth Grade 



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Issued by 

J. A. CHURCHILL 

Superintendent of Public Instruction 




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History of Oregon 


A TEACHERS’ OUTLINE 
FOR USE 

IN THE EIGHTH GRADE 



Issued by 
J. A. Churchill 

Superintendent of Public Instruction 






Salem, Oregon : 
State Printing Department 
1923 


Vsi (o 

.oil 



library of congress 

RECEIVED 

SEP 1 8 1S23 

DOCUMENTS DIVISION I 











TABLE OF CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Suggestions to teachers ... 6 

Spanish discoveries. 

English discoveries. 

Discovery of the Northwest Coast . 8 

Pacific fur trade . 12 

Russia leads the way. 

Renewed Spanish activity. 

English explorations. 

The Americans take a part in the fur trade. 

The Nootka imbroglio. 

The Russian progress. 

Tentative French operations. 

Nature of the fur commerce. 

Overland search for the Western Sea . 17 

French explorers and their work. 

English explorers. 

Mackenzie’s transcontinental voyage. 

The natural pathways to the west. 

The Lewis and Clark expedition . 20 

Jefferson’s early interest in the far west. 

Organization of the expedition. 

Objects of the expedition. 

Chronicle of the journey. 

Results and summary. 

The Astor enterprise . 23 

The beginning of Aster’s commercial venture. 

The organization of the venture. 

Increasing misfortune. 

War and the end of the American establishment. 

Restoration of Astoria but end of commercial enterprise. 

The Hudson’s Bay Company in Oregon. 26 

The Northwest Fur Company in control. 

Contest with Hudson’s Bay Company. 

Dr. McLoughlin’s rule. 

American trappers and fur traders. 29 

First period of decline; the Missouri Fur Company. 

Second period ; revival of American fur companies. 

The second decline ; end of the fur period. 

The free trappers ; characteristics of the trade. 

Attempts to enter Oregon. 

Concluding summary. 

The missionaries . 33 

The Methodist mission. 

Upper Columbia mission. 

The Catholic missionaries. 

Early colonization .-. 35 

The provisional government .-. 37 

Oregon boundary dispute .-. 40 

The Cayuse war . 43 

Oregon becomes a state . 46 




















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HISTORY OF OREGON 


A TEACHERS’ OUTLINE 
FOR USE IN THE EIGHTH GRADE 

This outline of Oregon history has been prepared on the recommen¬ 
dation of the History Teachers’ Section of the Oregon State Teachers’ 
Association and the Sons and Daughters of Oregon Pioneers by a 
committee representing these organizations and appointed by the Super¬ 
intendent of Public Instruction. During the first six weeks of the eighth 
grade, Oregon history is to be taught. At present the books suitable for 
eighth grade pupils do not carry the story of Oregon beyond the estab¬ 
lishment of statehood in 1859 and the committee thinks it best until 
better materials are available to drop the study at that point. The books 
mentioned in pupils’ lists at the end of each chapter of the outline should 
be secured for the school library. With these books available for pupils’ 
use and page assignments as indicated given them by the teacher, and 
with the summary of the outline to guide the teacher, the subject ought 
to be taught without difficulty. 

R. C. Clark, 

H. G. Starkweather, 

R. H. Down, 

Susanne Homes Carter, 

Mrs. W. A. Barnum, 

Committee. 


FOREWORD 

Every pupil in Oregon promoted from the eighth grade should have 
a general knowledge of the history of the state from the discovery of 
the northwest coast to Oregon’s admission as a state. 

The outline which follows is for the guidance of the teachers, since 
this department does not have such a printing fund as will permit us 
to provide the eighth grade pupils with copies. The outline is planned 
with a view to having the teachers learn the thirteen stories of Oregon 
history and to read them and to tell them to the children. The children 
are to tell the stories back to the teacher. 

As indicated on page 63 of the Elementary Course of Study, Oregon 
history is to take the place of United States history in the eighth grade 
for the first six weeks of the school year. 

The Oregon Textbook Commission at the time of its next meeting 
for the adoption of texts will be asked to adopt a text in Oregon history 
to be placed in the hands of the pupils. 

In the eighth grade examination, four of the twelve questions in 
United States history submitted to applicants will be on Oregon history 
and based upon the stories on Oregon history contained in this outline. 

Very sincerely yours, 

J. A. Churchill, 

Superintendent of Public Instruction. 


6 


HISTORY OF OREGON 


SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS 

By MISS LILLI SCHMIDLI 
Franklin High School, Portland 

A long time ago somebody did something grand and courageous some¬ 
where else. This is the interpretation that many of our boys and girls 
make of American history. The very word history suggests to them a 
hoary remoteness that puts the subject, once and for all, beyond the 
grasp of familiarity. One reason for this is that children are carried 
afar for their first history experience, to glean in strange, distant 
national fields instead of being directed from their family doorsteps to 
the bountiful home harvest of local history. As a result, they miss at 
the outset the real feeling of what history is, and the thrill of pride and 
responsibility that comes from belonging to a historic community. 

My town and my state are the logical avenues of approach to my 
country. The youth who comes to know and love his local community 
will give to that community willingly in youthful interest and service 
what the community has the right to expect. At the same time he will 
be preparing in thought and action for intelligent national patriotism 
and citizenship. With the “idiom” of his home place as a point of 
departure the study of American history will mean a captivating, dynamic 
experience to him. He will see his familiar world in a newer, bigger 
relation. He will grasp more readily the significance of our national 
ideals of justice, right and social service, and will enjoy in full measure 
that personal gratification that always comes as a pleasing by-product 
of history study. 

The Oregon story is a wonderful story. During the early years of 
our national life Indian tales of a rich western land bordering on the 
Pacific Ocean, rumors of a mighty river of the west rolling through 
continuous woods to the sea, stirred the imagination of settlers east of 
the Mississippi. In poetry and in anecdote they called the region Oregon. 
Then a Yankee captain dared to steer his brig Columbia over the bar 
and give the United States a claim to the country drained by the mighty 
river. President Jefferson, a pioneer at heart, sent out Lewis and Clark 
to blaze the way westward by land. Trappers and traders came, and white 
settlers followed close—strong, stout-hearted men and self-sacrificing 
women. Three thousand miles they travelled through the wilderness for 
the privilege of carving out new homes in the far west. Graves mark 
their trail. Only did they arrive in Oregon when an unfriendly fur 
company and hostile Indians began to contest their right to call this 
country “home.” But they persevered in the struggle against foe and 
forest, and after years of discouragement and sacrifice they won. Under 
the “Boston man’s” resolute hand the trapper’s lodge and the Indian’s 
hunting ground gave way to the home-right of the pioneer settler. A 
final bloodless contest with England, a terrible Indian massacre, and 
our Oregon became definitely a part of our United States. 

The above is indeed a fragmentary sketch of the story that every boy 
and girl in Oregon has a right to know in full. As our state increases 
in population and prestige it becomes more and more the responsibility 
of teachers to make Oregon history a part of the experience of the 
children of the state. 

In the past Oregon teachers have been somewhat hindered by lack 
of adequate source material, properly arranged for class work. The 
Oregon syllabus is offered to supply this lack. 



A TEACHERS’ OUTLINE 


7 


Fifth and sixth grade teachers will find that the oral history-story 
method of presentation lends itself nicely to the age and interest of the 
pupils of these grades. The following hints may help to point the way 
to successful results: 

Prepare yourself to tell the story to the class in units; e. g., what 
people knew of the far west when Washington became president; how 
the Columbia River was discovered and named; how Lewis and Clark 
opened a way westward by land; how Fort Astoria was started; how 
Doctor McLoughlin ruled at Fort Vancouver; etc. Stop here and there 
in the telling of each unit to ask questions calling for thought or con¬ 
jecture. Let individual pupils contribute points from their Oregon 
reading outside of class. Collect pictures and relics for the school 
exhibit. After the presentation of each unit take time for reviewing 
and pigeonholing the most important points, and when the whole story 
has become class property celebrate the occasion with an Oregon program. 

In the seventh and eighth grades pupils may be assigned topics from 
the syllabus for independent preparation. Groups can work together on 
the larger divisions of subject matter, bringing the results of their inves¬ 
tigations to the recitation. Eighth grade pupils may also be interested 
in preparing biographical sketches of Oregon leaders for telling in the 
intermediate grades. The civics class may dramatize the meeting at 
Champoeg. Reminiscences should be collected from the pioneers of the 
community. These are but a few suggestions as to what may be done 
to make the work varied and profitable. 

In the high school United States history class Oregon history should 
receive several weeks’ time each term. The Oregon syllabus will be 
found a valuable aid in furnishing direct information in lieu of a text 
book and in pointing out source material. In addition to the suggested 
reading, students should be led in a historical survey of their local 
community. The importance of conserving the records of pioneer life 
can thus be brought home to them. Interest can be focused especially on 
old letters, newspapers, photographs, etc. Aside from giving a chance 
for action and providing topics of conversation in the family and com¬ 
munity, such work provides elementary training in method of research 
and often adds valuable material to present historical collections. The 
aim throughout is to impress young people with the richness of their own 
state in its historical background. Earnest, sincere study of the effort 
made by the men and women who set themselves the task of carving 
American homes in the Pacific Northwest can not fail to have an 
ennobling influence on the sons and daughters whose responsibility it is 
to carry on the Oregon story. 


HISTORY OF OREGON 

Teachers should see the list “Books on the Pacific Northwest for Small 
Libraries,” by Rockwood, published in 1923. It gives titles of books gen¬ 
erally available in Oregon public libraries, even though not to be had by 
purchase except through advertising and second-hand dealers. 

Book List for School Library 


(See State School Library List, Part I, Nos. 1595-1620, for prices. Most of 
the desirable histories are out of print, but references are included because schools 
own the books. Those no longer obtainable are Chapman’s ‘ Story of Oregon,” 
Irving’s ‘‘Fur Traders,” Judson’s ‘‘Early Days,” and Meany’s “Washington.”) 
Carey: History of Oregon. 

Chapman : Story of Oregon. 

Horner: Oregon, or a Short History of Oregon. 

Judson: Early Days in Old Oregon. 

Schafer: Pacific Northwest. 




8 


HISTORY OP OREGON 


I, DISCOVERY OF THE NORTHWEST COAST 

(a) Spanish Discoveries. Columbus thought the new land he had 
found to be a large island off the Asiatic mainland. There should exist 
a passage or strait between the island and mainland, giving a route to 
India. But as further discoveries revealed the nature and extent of the 
new land—now the continent of South America—it became evident that 
the new land could not be an island. The discovery of the Pacific by 
Balboa, and the rounding of the southern extremity of South America 
by Magellan, thoroughly Shattered any claim that America was an 
archipelago. Yet interest in a passage, running through America and 
joining the two oceans, continued. This passage, the fabled straits of 
Anian, was supposed to exist on the northwest coast of North America, 
and one Portuguese navigator claimed to have actually sailed through it. 
France, England, Portugal and Holland sought this passage in the 
Atlantic; Spain in the Pacific. Mainly to Spanish efforts in this direc¬ 
tion are due the first explorations along the Pacific Coast. 

Balboa had sent out the first expedition along the Pacific Coast, but 
achieved nothing. Cortez, the conqueror of Mexico, equipped ships for 
exploring along the Western Coast. By these voyages, the Gulf of Cali¬ 
fornia was explored its entire length. Lower California was found to 
be a peninsula, and the Western Coast traversed to Cedros Island. 
Another voyager in 1542 sailed north as far as Monterey, and the next 
year Ferrelo, perhaps, reached the southern boundary of Oregon, more 
than sixty years before the first English settlement in Virginia. A still 
more enterprising explorer, Vixcaino (1603), is thought to have reached 
as far north as Cape Blanco or Port Orford on the Oregon Coast. The 
Spaniards made no further attempt to explore the West Coast for a 
hundred and sixty years. During this interval, efforts were made to 
colonize California, stations being founded at San Diego and Los Angeles. 
Many missions were established, and the natives were given religious 
instruction. 

In the latter half of the eighteenth century occurred renewed activity 
by the Spanish. All the old motives were conspicuous in this movement; 
conversion of the natives, extension of territory and anxiety to forestall 
Russian or English occupation of the Northwest. The latter object was, 
perhaps, most pressing, for foreign occupation would have endangered 
the exceedingly profitable trade between Mexico and the Philippines. 

Commerce had been established between Mexico and Asia soon after 
the Spaniards subdued the Philippine Islands. Large vessels, called 
galleons, were constructed for freighting, and on the Pacific there had 
been little danger of storm and enemies. Sailing west was easy, because 
the trade winds blew from the northeast, and direct passage was had 
from Mexico to Asia. But the return was more difficult. In order to 
secure the aid of the prevailing winds, ships ran north to the fortieth 
parallel, then sailing east struck the coast of California in the neighbor¬ 
hood of Cape Mendocino. Thence the northwest winds took the vessels 
down to Acapulco, Mexico. The voyage from the Orient to America 
consumed four to five months, and it was necessary that a refitting and 
victualing station be established on the coast for the galleons, and forces 
stationed there to prevent encroachments by a foreign power, that might 
hinder or seize this rich Oriental traffic. 




A TEACHERS’ OUTLINE 


9 


In 1774, then, Perez was sent out with orders to proceed to 60° N. 
latitude, and explore the coast. He reached only as far as the southern 
coast of Alaska (54° 40'), returning because of scurvy. He traded with 
the Indians around Queen Charlotte Islands, and discovered a bay on the 
west coast of Vancouver Island, naming it San Lorenzo, now Nootka 
Sound. Although Perez had neither landed nor found ports, to him 
belongs the honor of having discovered the whole northwest coast. The 
next year another expedition was sent out under Heceta, with orders to 
navigate farther north even than Perez had been instructed. He sought 
the strait of San Juan de Fuca, but in vain. On Point Greenville, near 
the straits of Fuca, he landed and took possession in the name of Spain. 
Scurvy broke out and Heceta sailed homeward. In this return trip he 
saw the mouth of the Columbia River, or the “River of the West.” He 
made attempts to enter, but on account of the strong current was 
unsuccessful. Had a Spaniard discovered this river, the history of 
Oregon might have been far different. 

In 1779 Artega sailed to 61°, heard about Russian trading posts, but 
saw no Europeans. The Spanish policy for ten years after this was not 
to object to Russian occupation of the far north, but to oppose posts 
south of 60° as encroaching on Spanish territorial rights and threatening 
Spanish settlements further south. Thus, at the latter half of the 18th 
century, Spain could claim by right of discovery all the Pacific Coast 
from Lower California to the Russian territory in the north. Yet they 
had made no settlements nor gained any foothold above California. 

In 1788 the expedition made by Martinez and Haro to the far north 
was the forerunner of the expedition of the following year. In 1789 
Spain, alarmed by the activities of British and American fur traders 
along the northwestern coast, made a determined effort to maintain her 
supremacy over the west coast of America, and the sole right of trade. 
An expedition was sent out from Mexico to inquire into Russian activities 
and to claim Nootka for Spain. 

(b) English Discoveries. Francis Drake, after plundering the city of 
Guatulco on the Mexican Coast, put out again to sea in April, 1579, and 
sailed northward, though not attempting to follow the coast. He had 
two good reasons for so doing: 1. To find the expected northwest passage, 
and thus be able to return to England without experiencing the terrible 
danger of a winter trip around the Horn, and interference from the now 
watchful Spanish war vessels; 2, to intercept the Manila galleon on its 
voyage to Mexico. 

By June he had sailed as far as the 43° parallel when disagreeable 
weather induced him to turn landwards. Upon sighting the coast he 
looked for a satisfactory harbor, but found none until he had cruised 
southward to the neighborhood of 38°. The bay which Drake entered 
there is in dispute, as it may have been either Bodega or San Francisco. 
Here he stayed for five weeks, repairing the Golden Hind and making 
friends with the natives, at the end of which time he gave up hope of 
finding the northwest passage, and started for England by sailing on 
around the world. What Drake had done was to make a landing on a 
heretofore unseen coastline, but there is no evidence of his having made 
any formal claim to it for his sovereign. The Californian bay later 
reached was distinctly within the limits reached by Ferrelo. 

English exploration of the northwest coast ceases for even a longer 
time than Spanish. In 1778 Captain Cook, on his third exploring voyage, 




10 


HISTORY OF OREGON 


had orders to search once more for a northwest passage, either through 
Hudson Bay or by the seas north of Asia or America. His first landfall 
after leaving the Hawaiian Islands was on the coast at 44° 33'. His 
orders were not to begin a thorough search until after passing 65°, 
to avoid all possible entanglement with the Spanish. New lands he was 
to claim. This is a tacit surrender of all intent to use Drake’s voyage 
as a basis for territorial claims. Beating northward against contrary 
winds, he named Capes Foulweather, Perpetua and Gregory. He was 
blown away from the coast, and sighted it again only at Cape Flattery, 
and finally at Nootka Sound. Having here repaired his vessels he started 
again to the north, learning much of the Alaskan Coast, but being com¬ 
pelled finally like Drake to seek England by way of Asia. He had 
missed the Columbia river and the Straits of Fuca, but he had established 
fairly accurately the longitude of the coast. (For connection with Fur 
Trade, see II.) 

With the establishment of the fur trade, explorations and discoveries 
in detail of the coast were rapid from 1785 to the end of the century. 
In 1787 Dixon discovered the Queen Charlotte Isles, and in the same 
year Barclay discovered the Straits of Fuca. This activity in conjunction 
with the increasing numbers of fur traders made it appear likely that 
the northwest coast within indeterminate limits might fall to England. 
The results of Spanish efforts to prevent this are told elsewhere in the 
syllabus. In 1788 Meares, cruising southward along the coast of the still 
scantily known Oregon-Washington Coast, barely missed discovering the 
Columbia River. The American explorers, Gray and Kendrick, and their 
work is discussed under “The Pacific Fur Trade.” Their discoveries 
were secondary to their main purpose, the establishment of commercial 
relations with the Indian tribes. The names of American and British 
traders of this period are almost legion. 

Vancouver, the Englishman, is the last of the explorers. Spanish, 
Russian and American activity aroused the English to the possibility of 
exclusion, and Vancouver was sent in a final search for the northwest 
passage, in whose existence he did not believe. He reached the Pacific 
Coast in 1792 and explored the northwest portion, beginning with Puget 
Sound, with such thoroughness that his maps may still be used. He, 
like Meares, barely missed discovering the Columbia River, but in the 
course of his three voyages he had the satisfaction of dispelling forever 
any lingering hopes of the existence of a strait through North America. 
The day of the explorer was done; that of the fur trader was in 
full swing. 



A TEACHERS’ OUTLINE 


11 


QUESTIONS 

1. Who discovered the Pacific Ocean? 

2. What nations sought the straits of Anian in the Atlantic? In the 

Pacific? 

3. What did Balboa and Cortez accomplish? 

4. What explorers reached the coast of Oregon? 

5. What were the objects of the Spaniards in their explorations? 

6. Why did commerce spring up between Mexico and Asia? 

7. How did the freighters make the voyage? 

8. To whom is given the credit for the discovery of the northwest 

coast? 

9. What is the “River of the West”? 

10. Why did Drake sail northward from Mexico? 

11. What was the Golden Hind? 

12. Describe Captain Cook’s voyage. 

13. What activities made it seem probable that the northwest coast 

might fall to England? 

14. H<5w did Vancouver help in the exploration of the coast? 

15. Name the explorers who passed the mouth of the Columbia, but 

did not discover it. 

Books for Pupils : 

1. Schafer : Pacific Northwest, pp. 1-9. 

2. Horner: Oregon, pp. 22-39. 

3. Carey: History of Oregon. 

Teachers’ Supplementary List: 

1. Bancroft: History of the Pacific States, I, pp. 137-166. (Very extended 

reading, 1-166.) 

2. Lyman: History of Oregon, I, pp. 198-252, 295-306. 

3. Schafer: Pacific Slope and Alaska, pp. 3-24. 

4. Laut: Vikings of the Pacific, pp. 133-171. 

(The books listed under this head will be found only in large libraries, like 
Oregon State Library. They are available for reference only.) 




\ 



12 


HISTORY OF OREGON 


II. PACIFIC FUR TRADE 

(Begins by a Second Period of Exploration) 

1. Russia Leads the Way. Peter the Great in 1725, the year of his 
death, ordered the formation of an expedition to set out from Kamchatka 
and obtain reliable information about the northern American coast. 
Behring, a Dane, was to command the expedition. So great were the 
difficulties that it was not until 1741 that the expedition as originally 
planned took place. Behring was constantly impeded by the wishes of 
imperial scientists accompanying the expedition and to whom his orders 
compelled him to defer. Valuable time was lost in searching for a 
mythical continent, and when at last they sighted the Alaskan coast at 
the 60° parallel, provisions were becoming scanty and many of the crew 
were sick with scurvy. Behring, himself ill with the disease, delayed only 
to take on fresh water, and turned back for Kamchatka. He was never 
to reach it, for, driven by fear of shipwreck and starvation, the entire 
ship's company determined to winter on one of the islands of the 
Aleutian Archipelago. 

Here they constructed dugouts, for their refuge was devoid of trees. 
Part of their material for lining and chinking up holes was the skins of 
the animals they were killing for food, among them some hundreds of 
sea otter. Here Behring, as well as half the crew, died. The next spring 
the remainder succeeded in making their way home. Here their past 
miseries were recompensed by the sale of the sea otter skins, which they 
had brought with them, for $200 a pelt in the Chinese market. The 
animal had been known and sought on Asiatic shores, but that was not 
its home. Now that the natural breeding grounds had been discovered, 
interest in the scientific achievements of Behring's voyage was lost in a 
popular fever to make money out of furs. 

All legal restraint was removed when the imperial government re¬ 
nounced its monopoly, contenting itself with a demand for 10 per cent of 
the furs. The result was a rush to Alaskan water, comparable only to 
the gold rush to California a century later. The profits, in spite of 
danger and heavy exposure, were great. An expedition costing $30,000 
might bring in two or three times that amount. The place of government 
explorers was taken by thousands of these fur traders, whose economic 
interests caused them to make a minute examination of every portion of 
the coast. Colonization was not an immediate result of the fur trade; 
Nadiak, the first permanent Russian settlement in Alaska, was founded 
by Shelikoff in 1784. As the furs of the Aleutian Archipelago and 
peninsula were exhausted, operations moved steadily southwest along the 
coast, but there was still a large gap between Russian and Spanish 
spheres of activity. 

2. Renewed Spanish Activity. In the decade 1770-1780 Spain sent out 
three expeditions to learn what the Russians were doing, and also to 
strengthen Spanish right to the northwest coast (see Discovery of the 
Northwest Coast). The Spaniards took no interest in fur trading, and 
attached no importance to the country because of its furs. In 1788 a 
single attempt was made to collect furs to sell in Canton but it was not 
financially successful. 

3. English Explorations. Captain Cook sailing northward from the 
Hawaiian Islands sighted the Oregon Coast in 1778. Cook’s orders were 
to explore and claim all lands which were obviously not in possession of 



A TEACHERS’ OUTLINE 


13 


other powers. He sailed north to Nootka Sound where he traded with 
the Indians. The furs acquired here were disposed of in Asia and their 
great value was thereby verified, to the ultimate benefit of English and 
American merchants. Thus Cook began the fur trade which the Spaniard 
had passed by. This year 1778 should be a division point in the history of 
the Pacific fur trade; up to this time fur trading had been an incident, 
not the purpose of exploring expeditions. From now on, as was the case 
in the Russian expeditions after Behring’s men came to trade, discovery 
became incidental to commerce. 

In 1785 the first ship after Cook visited the northwest coast. A brig 
under Captain Hanna put into Nootka Sound, where 500 sea otter skins 
were secured, and later sold for $20,600. The following year two English 
expeditions from India made successful cruises to the fur coasts, while 
a third from England was financially a failure. The same ship repeated 
her voyage in 1787 with much success. Other traders followed, and the 
decade ends with the English apparently firmly establishing themselves 
without opposition. 

The Americans Take Part in the Fur Trade. It was the reports of 
Captain Cook which induced six Boston merchants, headed by Charles 
Bulfinch, to send Kendrick in the Columbia and Gray in the Lady 
Washington to the northwest coast. The cruise began in 1787. It 
was almost a year later (August, 1788) when Gray landed on the 
Oregon coast at Tillamook Bay. Here he was treacherously attacked by 
Indians, and suffered one casualty. They arrived at Nootka Sound in 
September, where he found the English traders, Douglas and Meares, 
their ships already loaded with furs. Acts of formal courtesy as well as 
of actual assistance occurred between the traders, but Meares used every 
means to discourage his commercial rival. Kendrick rejoined Gray here, 
and together they cruised along the coast during the winter, 1788-1789, 
collecting furs. That summer Kendrick returned home, while Gray 
sailed for China to dispose of his furs there. He reached Boston August 
11, 1790, the first American commander to circumnavigate the world. 

Gray’s most important work was still to be done. He made his second 
trip to the northwest coast in 1791, and again put into Nootka Sound, 
where he built a fort and a small sloop. He then sailed southward in 
search of new fur dealing, and on May 7 entered Gray’s Harbor. On 
the eleventh or twelfth he made his second and most important discovery. 
On his way northward he had encountered such a strong current about 
46° 7' that he had suspected the discharge of a large river, and he 
now verified his induction by entering the mouth of the river that 
Meares and Vancouver had both missed. He named the river Columbia, 
and formed profitable trading relations with the Indians, but there 
remains no evidence that he formally took possession. On his way down 
from Nootka, Gray, on April 28, had passed the English commander, 
Vancouver, and had mentioned his belief in the existence of a river, but 
the Englishman had scouted this. In October, 1792, Vancouver’s second 
ship, under Lieutenant Broughton, likewise entered the Columbia, verified 
Gray’s discovery and, sailing farther, claimed the country for England, 
under the belief that Gray had not gone as far as fresh water. During 
the next twenty years thirty or forty American vessels a year visited 
Nootka and the Columbia, virtually monopolizing the fur trade on that 
portion of the coast. 



14 


HISTORY OF OREGON 


The Nootka Imbroglio. A decade after Artega’s voyage Spain was 
again roused to resentful activity by the English advent to the North¬ 
west. As a precautionary move the Mexican viceroy determined to 
occupy Nootka before any other foreign power should do so. Vessels of 
other nations were to be treated courteously, but with a clear understand¬ 
ing of Spain’s rights. Arrived at the Sound, the Spanish commanders 
found there both American and English vessels. A few days later an 
English ship was seized by the Spaniards, who alleged hostile clauses in 
the ship’s papers. These were in Portuguese and she was sailing under 
the Portuguese flag. There is a probability of American connivance. 
Some days later the ship was returned to her captain, and fitted out for 
her voyage to the Hawaiian Islands. Later, several other English ships 
were seized, apparently because they threatened to establish a settlement 
in rivalry to the Spaniards already there. When the affair became known 
in Europe, Great Britain assumed a menacing air, and war was imminent. 
Due to the strong insistence of France on peace, England was induced to 
offer and Spain to accept the Nootka Convention of 1790. By it repara¬ 
tion was made for seizure, both nations conceded the right to trade and 
settle the regions in question. The Spanish reoccupied Nootka, which in 
1794 became a neutral port. By treaty in 1795 Spain also conceded to 
the Americans full trading rights in northwestern waters. The Spaniards 
had never objected to the presence of Americans who were there for 
trade only, not for settlement. In the same year the Nootka settlement 
was abandoned. 

The Russian Progress. Depletion of the northern fur fields caused 
the Russians to press southward. By the end of the century about 200,000 
furs had been taken from Alaska. The Russian-American Fur Company 
was organized by Boranoff and Sheilkoff in 1799, and secured a com¬ 
plete monopoly of the hunting. Sitka was founded the same year, and 
Boranoff was made governor for all the Russian holdings in America. 
Cook had proved the existence of furs farther south and, moreover, the 
necessity of furnishing themselves with supplies forced the Russian 
colonist traders to found settlements where grain and cattle could be 
raised. In 1813 such a post was established in California at Bodega Bay, 
which proved to be a rich fur region as well. In 1820 Fort Ross, a large 
post, was founded, continuing under Russian control until 1840, when the 
company withdrew, owing to extinction of the furs. The Russian period 
reached its highest during these twenty years, twelve vessels and thirty 
forts being required for a commerce extending over 2,000 miles of coast. 

Tentative French Operations. La Perouse in 1783 and Marchand in 
1790 visited the northwest coast to inquire into the fur trade. La 
Perouse advised against a colonizing enterprise, but urged private fur 
trading expeditions. French activity was interrupted by the Revolution 
and was not afterward resumed. 

Nature of the Fur Commerce. China was the great market for the 
Pacific fur trade. Her ports were closed to the Russians and open only 
under bothersome restrictions to foreign ships. The Russians occupied 
the best geographical position, as they could carry their furs into their 
own domains close to the Chinese boundary. Irkutsk was the great fur 
mart where the Chinese merchants came to trade. The remaining furs 
were sent on to St. Petersburg or Moscow. Canton, in South China, was 
the port used by other nations. There was no regulation of the hunt, 



A TEACHERS’ OUTLINE 


15 


such as restricts the diamond supply at the present day, and violent 
fluctuations in price occurred. Prices in the last two decades of the 
century fell to $30, $20 and even $15 a skin. Then, owing to decrease 
in number of skins, the price began to rise again. During these years 
12,000 annually would be a conservative average for the number of pelts 
sent to China, most of them being carried in American ships. Even 
though the expenses were heavy, the returns of a successful voyage would 
be three or four times as large. Traders had to run chances of loss 
through spoiling of furs, trade hindrances, shipwreck, and robbery. The 
English in India were handicapped from becoming rivals of the Russians, 
since the East India Company had a monopoly of the Chinese trade. 
This was partially avoided by sailing from the Portuguese port of Macao 
under the Portuguese flag. The Colonial Revolution freed the Americans 
from this restriction and accounts in part for the preponderance of 
American traders from 1790 to 1814. With decrease in furs, other traders 
tended to cease operations, but the Americans made up the loss by other 
commercial ventures. 

To all except the Russians, the Hawaiians were an indispensable factor 
in trading. A ship from Boston would stop there after rounding the Horn, 
sail on to the Columbia or Nootka, trade for some months, return to the 
islands and then sail for China, having there acquired sandalwood, and 
usually returning to Boston across the Indian Ocean and around the 
Cape of Good Hope. The voyages would be from two to three years in 
length. The same was true of ships either from England or India. In 
the Oriental markets the furs and sandalwood would be exchanged for 
such wares as tea, silks, etc., which were brought home. The actual cost 
of such goods was represented only by the trifles given to the Indians 
for their peltries, added to the ordinary expenses of the expedition. 

English and Americans each accused the other of mistreating the 
Indians in their dealings with them, but neither systematically enslaved 
the tribes as did the Russians in Alaska. There natives and animals 
suffered alike from the ruthless scramble. Nor was fur trading a life 
of ease; in addition to the perils mentioned above, scurvy, the dread 
scourge of the sea, was an ever present danger. 

The Pacific fur trade may be said to cover the century beginning with 
1741 and ending with the withdrawal of the Russian-American Fur 
Company in 1840. In the meantime it had caused a movement by land 
even more far reaching in its importance. 



16 


HISTORY OF OREGON 


QUESTIONS 

1. Describe Behring’s voyage. 

2. Who began the fur trade? 

3. Describe the voyage of Kendrick and Gray. 

4. Describe the discovery of the Columbia. 

5. What were the provisions of the Nootka convention of 1790? 

6. Why did the Russians seek to establish settlements south of Alaska? 

7. Describe the commerce in furs. 

8. What chances did traders have to take? 

9. In what way was Hawaii a factor in the fur trade? 

10. What is said of the treatment of the Indians? 


Books for Pupils: 

The most interesting book is Skinner’s “Adventurers of Oregon,” not for sale 
except as a part of set of fifty volumes, but in the State Library. 

1. Chapman: Story of Oregon, pp. 9-20. 

2. Johnson: Short History, pp. 31-35; 56-92. 

3. Judson : Early Days in Old Oregon, pp. 1-30. 

4. Schafer: Pacific Northwest, pp. 9-24. 

5. Carey: History of Oregon. 

6. Irving : Fur Traders of the Columbia. 

7. Laut: Story of the Trapper. 

Teachers’ Supplementary List: 

1. Bancroft: History of Pacific States, I. pp. 204-2S3 ; 343-377. 

2. Coman: Economic Beginnings of the Far West, I, pp. 193-221. 

3. Schafer: Pacific Slope and Alaska, pp. 30-36. 

4. Boit, John : Log of Columbia. 

5. Old South Leaflets, No. 131, for Gray’s account. 

6. Laut: Vikings, Chapters 1, 2, 7 and 8. 




A TEACHERS’ OUTLINE 


17 


III. OVERLAND SEARCH FOR THE 
WESTERN SEA (1660-1793) 

French Explorers and Their Work. The geographical path west across 
the North American Continent was up the St. Lawrence River valley. A 
century before explorers from the English settlements on the Atlantic 
seaboard had passed the Appalachian barrier, inquisitive Frenchmen had 
discovered the Great Lakes and the headwaters of the Mississippi. Mar¬ 
quette and Joilet (1673) and La Salle were definitely searching for the 
South Sea of whose existence they were assured from Indian rumors, 
though the large river flowing eastward into the Mississippi proved that 
a great expanse of land must intervene before the ocean sought for would 
be reached. Doubtless their explorations were induced by Radisson’s re¬ 
port of his winter visit to the Algonquins and Mandanas of the “treeless 
plains” (1659-60). 

Besides the piety of missionaries and the commercial hopes of traders 
who hoped to find a short land route to the South Sea, the opportunities 
of the fur trade became early an incentive to hardy adventures. It was 
an event of moment to Western exploration when two Frenchmen, Radis- 
son and Groseilliers, rediscovered Hudson Bay from a land route, and 
brought back to the settlements over half a million beaver furs. The 
immediate result was the formation of the Hudson Bay Company (q. v. 
Syllabus, VI), which in 1668 dispatched an expedition under Radisson’s 
command to establish permanent trading posts on the Bay. Further 
exploration westward by land and sea was included among their purposes, 
as their later charter would indicate. Part of the historical significance 
of this lies in the fact that the French held or claimed the territory south 
and west of these English operations, and were to continue to do so until 
1763. It was Radisson’s belief, based on Indian reports again, that the 
South Sea was only a few weeks’ journey from the Bay, and that a 
passage thence might easily be found. 

The French drift westward continued; the agents of Montreal mer¬ 
chants pushed out into the prairies; Duluth, established in 1678, was 
reestablished in 1717. In 1731 a definite effort was made to reach the 
Pacific overland. Verendrye, an able French trader, organized an expe¬ 
dition which reached the Rocky Mountains, and discovered the Yellowstone 
River (1741-43). The work was carried on ten years later by a second 
expedition (1752) and did some trapping in the mountains, but failed in 
its main purpose, due to the dishonesty of its leaders. French effort 
ceased and the cessions of 1763 ended all possibility of its renewal 
by land. 

English Explorers. It was a prevalent belief in the narrowness of 
the continent which had encouraged explorers to seek a land passage. 
Besides this, there was the hope that a river or rivers might be found 
serving to open a passage to the Pacific from the interior, as the St. 
Lawrence served to the Atlantic. As increased knowledge revealed only 
an expanding continent and mountain barriers greater than those in the 
east, the discovery of a river route became imperative. In 1765 Major 
Robert Rogers, who had served as a British officer in the French and 
Indian War, and had at one time been stationed as far west as Detroit, 
asked permission of his government to lead a force westward “from the 
Great Lakes toward the head of the Mississippi, and from thence to the 



18 


HISTORY OF OREGON 


river called by the Indians Ouragon, which flows into the Pacific.” This 
is the first known use of the name later to be applied to our state. 
Major Rogers was made commandant of the trading post at Mackinac, 
Michigan, and took with him Captain Jonathan Carver. The latter in 
1766 explored the Mississippi above the present site of Minneapolis. 
Later, in 1772, on his return from America, Major Rogers again peti¬ 
tioned his government to lead an expedition up the Missouri River to its 
source and thence by portage, which he thought to be only 30 miles, “into 
the great River Ourigan.” This is the second known use of the name 
which in French means “hurricane.” Jonathan Carver in 1778 published 
a book of his travels in America in which he spoke of the river of the 
west flowing into the Pacific as “Oregon.” The Carver book was im¬ 
mensely popular and through it, no doubt, Jefferson learned of this river 
and made use of the name in instructions to Lewis and Clark, and Bryant 
from the same source got the word for his Thanatopsis. Carver got the 
name from Rogers, who, in turn, no doubt, had heard it used by Indians 
in the Great Lake region. 

Mackenzie’s Transcontinental Voyage. Alexander Mackenzie emi¬ 
grated to Canada in 1779, and connected himself there with the North¬ 
west Fur Company. His enterprising, restless nature sought activity in 
exploration. A route to the Pacific, that goal of so many hardy searchers, 
was yet unfound, but the recent discoveries of the rich Pacific fur trade 
again excited interest in its discovery. His first expedition set out in 
1789 and discovered the river which bears his name. Hoping that it or 
one of its branches would lead to the Western Sea, he followed it to its 
mouth, finding himself, to his astonishment, on the shores of the Arctic 
Ocean instead. Undeterred by his want of success, Mackenzie planned a 
succeeding expedition which set out in October, 1792. He traveled up the 
Peace River, intending to make a winter camp at the base of the Rocky 
Mountains, and start from there in the spring. He reached the expected 
place, Fort Rock, near a branch of the Peace River, coming in from the 
south November 1st. On the 9th of May, 1793, he recommenced his 
journey, following branches of the river which opened the country south¬ 
ward. Indians they met spoke of a westward flowing river. In June they 
reached the Continental Divide, crossed it, and descended a turbulent 
stream (Bad River) to the Fraser, which Mackenzie took for granted to 
be the Columbia. The party found it impracticable to follow the river to 
its mouth, so struck out overland to find the sea. Difficulties seemed 
insurmountable, but Mackenzie persevered. He was generally able to 
establish friendly relations with the Indians, and toward the end their 
assistance was indispensable. On July 20, 1793, Mackenzie reached the 
Pacific at Bentinck North Arm. He was unable extensively to examine 
the coast line, and almost immediately turned about for the return trip. 
A dangerous altercation with the Indians almost brought destruction on 
the party. By the middle of August they found themselves at the portage 
of the Divide, and in hardly a month more had returned to Fort Chip- 
pewyan, the transcontinental voyage at last accomplished. The overland 
search for the western sea was ended. 

The Natural Pathways to the West. It has been shown how Western 
exploration began by way of the St. Lawrence Valley. The passes through 
the Western mountains are of like importance. Omitting the Peel River 
Pass, which belongs to Alaska and the Arctic, rather than to the Pacific 



A TEACHERS' OUTLINE 


19 


Northwest, the lowest and most important is that found by Mackenzie, 
the Peace River Pass in the neighborhood of 56°; its altitude is about 
1,600 feet. Three other passes, Pine River, Smoky River and Tete Jaune, 
all lie within 3 degrees to the south. The latter has been called the 
“key to British Columbia,” as it connects the Fraser and Columbia Rivers. 
At distances of about a degree other passes occur to the South; Boundary 
Pass is but a few miles north of 49°. Wlithin the boundaries of the United 
States the important passes through the Cascades are the Skagit (48° 30'), 
the Columbia (46°), the most important, and the Klamath (42°). Through 
the Rockies occurs the Flathead Pass at 48°, the Lewis and Clark at 47°, 
Yellowstone at 45° 45' (long an Oregon emigrant route), and Big Hole 
at 45° 38'. The early Oregon migrations used Sweetwater and Bridger 
Passes after ascending the North Platte to Fort Laramie. In the same 
region (about 42°) Bonneville discovered South Pass, famous later, though 
explored by him in 1832. Eastern and Western Oregon were connected 
by the Willamette River Pass (43° 26') while Applegate Pass opened the 
way to California. 

Thus the search for a northwest passage resulted in the discovery 
of many western passes. They have enabled lines of communication to be 
maintained between the two coasts. They were controlling factors in the 
progress of settlement and development of commerce. 


QUESTIONS 

1. What was the reason for the formation of the Hudson Bay Com¬ 
pany? 

2. What was the result of the French exploration by land? 

3. What was the prevalent belief relative to the size of the continent? 

4. Describe the explorations of Robert Rogers. 

5. Who spoke of the river of the west as the “Oregon”? 

6. Who found himself on the shores of the Arctic Ocean after follow¬ 
ing a river to its mouth? 

7. Describe his search for the Pacific. 

8. Name the western passes. 

9. What influence did these passes have on settlement and commerce? 


Pupils' List of Books : 

1. Chapman: pp. 21-23. 

2. Johnson: pp. 35-55. 

3. Schafer: Pacific Northwest, pp. 24-28. 

4. Carey: History of Oregon. 

5. Grinnell: Trails of the Pathfinders. 


Teachers' Supplementary List : 


1. 

2 . 

3. 

4. 


Bancroft: I, pp. 585-703. 

Oregon Historical Quarterly, Dec. 1920, pp. 341-368; on origin of the name 
“Oregon,” June, 1921. 

Schafer: Pacific Slope and Alaska, pp. 55-60. 



20 


HISTORY OF OREGON 


IV. THE LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION 

(1) Jefferson's Early Interest in the Far West. It was Jefferson’s 
philosophical interests which first attracted him to the unknown west; 
the existence of a great unknown at his very door was repugnant to his 
scientific nature. In 1783 his interest was further excited by the news 
that a British expedition was fitting out to explore, “the country from the 
Mississippi to California.” Later, when he was in Paris from 1785-89, he 
came into close association with an energetic, ambitious adventurer, 
John Ledyard, who had been with Cook, and listened eagerly to the lat¬ 
ter’s scheme for establishing a fur trading post on the Pacific Coast. 
Jefferson advised Ledyard to get to Western America by way of Russia, 
search for the sources of the Missouri River, and open a way to the United 
States by that route. After a successful beginning the scheme ended in 
failure through a change of mind by the Russian Government, who 
stopped Ledyard on his way across Siberia. But Western exploration 
was now a fixed idea in Jefferson’s mind, and in 1792 he urged the Amer¬ 
ican Philosophical Society to finance an expedition to the Pacific under 
the botanist Michaux. Political difficulties arose, and the affair was 
abandoned in 1794. The Louisiana Purchase in 1803 at last gave Jeffer¬ 
son his opportunity, and before the cession had actually been completed he 
had induced Congress to vote $2,500 for expenses for the expedition 
known to history as that of Lewis and Clark. 

(2) Organization of the Expedition. Jefferson selected his private 
secretary, Meriwether Lewis, to head the expedition. At Lewis’ request, 
William Clark was associated with him in coordinate command, which 
made it possible to divide the party in case of need. The rest of the party 
numbered twenty-six. A small military guard was to accompany them to 
the Mandan country. River boats were provided for as much of the jour¬ 
ney as could be made up the Missouri, for it was Jefferson’s hope that a 
short passage might be found between the headwaters of the Missouri and 
those of the newly-discovered Columbia. To secure discipline, the entire 
party were enrolled in the military service of the United States. The cap¬ 
tains were also provided with letters of credit. Supplies were carefully 
chosen as well as articles of trade for the Indians. Lewis was instructed 
to abandon the expedition rather than endanger the safety of the party. 

(3) Objects of the Expedition. The importance of the historical fact 
that Jefferson commenced this undertaking before the purchase had been 
made must be emphasized. It disposes of the popular notion that the 
expedition was for the purpose of inspecting a territorial purchase. 
Rather it would act as a spur to the purchase negotiations then going on 
in Paris by showing the serious intentions of the United States. Indeed, 
the president later suggested that arms be furnished the Indians who had 
crossed the West side of the Mississippi. The objects of the expedition, 
as distinctly stated in Jefferson’s instructions, were (1) to gain the 
friendship of the Indian tribes and establish commercial relations with 
them; (2) to make the scientific exploration that Jefferson had long 
contemplated; and (3) to open a usable trade route to the Pacific Coast. 
In order to forestall opposition at home as well as to lull suspicion abroad, 
the appropriation was requested “for the purpose of extending the exter¬ 
nal commerce of the United States.” 




A TEACHERS’ OUTLINE 


21 


(4) Chronicle of the Journey, (a) To Winter Quarters. The journey 
up the Missouri began May 21, 1804. Exactly two months later they 
reached the mouth of the Platte, which was regarded as a sort of boun¬ 
dary line between the known and unknown territories. The party was 
now entering the upper Missouri, and the captains decided to call an 
Indian council and treat with them for peace, which was done. Most of 
the party had suffered slightly from using the river water at the com¬ 
mencement of the trip, and in the latter part of August Sergeant Floyd 
was taken suddenly ill and died. This was the single casualty of the 
entire journey. Conferences with Indian tribes continued, and toward 
the end of October they reached the Mandan villages and camped for 
the winter. 

(b) On the Pacific. The winter had been spent in fixing friendly 
relations with the Indians, and in promoting peace among the tribes 
themselves. Here, too, the party secured the services of the woman 
interpreter, Sacajawea, and her French husband, who remained with them 
throughout the journey. Upon leaving Fort Mandan the expedition 
plunged at once into a country completely unknown. All communication 
with the world was cut off from April 8, 1805, until August, 1806. Three 
weeks later the Yellowstone River was discovered and briefly explored. 
In June the Missouri Falls were reached, caches of goods made, and the 
rest portaged around them. The two captains now divided the party from 
time to time. By midsummer they were in the heart of the continent, 
approaching the sources of the Missouri. Late in July they arrived at 
the Three Forks, their southern limit, and here the two captains rejoined 
each other August 17. Friendly relations were established with the 
Indians, who were of much assistance to the party in crossing the water¬ 
shed. Here Clark, as usual, went ahead to scout and sent back word of 
the difficulty of using water transportation to the Columbia. September 
20-23, the entire party crossed the divide. Progress was slow because of 
illness in the party, and it was not until October that the descent of the 
Pacific Slope was actually, begun. They followed the Clearwater River 
to the Snake, hurried down this turbulent river, after having made the 
acquaintance of the Nez Perces, and on October 17 entered the Columbia. 
They proceeded down this river, assisted by the Indians along the route, 
noting its tributaries, the geography of the country, the condition of the 
Indians, and the wild game. Early in November the party reached tide¬ 
water, and on the 8th, the sea. 

(c) The Return to the United States. A winter camp was built at 
present day Astoria, hunting and salt gathering expeditions were sent 
out, and relations were established with the Indians, who were now well 
acquainted with sea traders. The winter passed in great discomfort. The 
return was delayed in the hope of seeing some ship arrive, but was at last 
begun March 23, 1806. The natural hardships of the journey were 
increased by the fact that almost all their trading stock had been spent 
on the outward journey; at times the party seemed on the verge of 
starvation. After leaving the Columbia they started overland, and in 
July crossed the Bitter Root Mountains. Here the party divided under 
each of the two captains. Lewis was to descend the Missouri directly, 
exploring on the way; Clark was to seek for the Yellowstone, follow it to 
its mouth and there" await his colleague. This was done, and on August 




22 


HISTORY OF OREGON 


12 the two sections were reunited. They now made speed down the river, 
renewing Indian friendships on the way. September 23 they reentered 
St. Louis and the great expedition was ended. 

(5) Results and Summary. The continent had been crossed, the possi¬ 
bilities of transcontinental routes made known. The main waterways had 
been ascertained. The expedition had crossed the continental divide at 
three separate passes; ten states arose from the regions through which it 
had traveled. Friendly relations had been formed with the tribes, and a 
great quantity of scientific data of all sorts had been secured. Captain 
Lewis was made governor of Louisiana Territory, and remained so until 
his tragic death in 1809. Clark became Indian agent for the department, 
and later governor of Missouri Territory. The men were rewarded by land 
grants. 


QUESTIONS 

1. Why was Jefferson attracted to the unknown West? 

2. What event gave Jefferson an excuse to explore the West? 

3. How was the expedition organized? 

4. Name three objects of the expedition. 

5. Why did the expedition have no trouble with the Indians? 

6. Who was Sacajawea? 

7. Describe the journey across the mountains to the sea. 

8. When was the return journey begun? 

9. What increased the hardships of the return trip? 

10. Sum up the results of the journey. 

Pupils’ List of Books : 

1. Brooks: First Across the Continent (all). 

2. Chapman: pp. 24-39. 

3. Johnson: pp. 93-128. 

4. Judson: pp. 31-57. 

5. Schafer: Pacific Northwest, pp. 29-61. 

6. Horner: Oregon, 40-50. 

7. Carey: History of Oregon. 

8. Lighton: Lewis and Clark. 

9. Schultz: Bird Woman. 

10. Wheeler: Trail of Lewis and Clark. 

11. Dye: The Conquest. 

Teachers’ Supplementary List: 

T. Bancroft: op. cit. II, pp. 1-50. 

:2. Coues: History of Lewis and Clark Expedition, I, pp. 13-106. 

3. Coman: op. cit. I, pp. 231-282. 

4. Lyman: op. cit. II, pp. 131-164. 

:5. Schafer: Hist. Pac. Slope and Alaska, pp. 39-53. 





A TEACHERS’ OUTLINE 


23 


V. THE ASTOR ENTERPRISE 

(1) The Beginning of Astor’s Commercial Venture. The Lewis and 
Clark Expedition had drawn American attention to Oregon and the trade 
possibilities there. In 1809 the Winship brothers, who had already visited 
the coast by boat, organized a large establishment to be located on the 
Columbia. Work was commenced, but failed, owing to hostility from the 
Indians. It was time for the Americans to make an effort, for the 
Russians were then planning a like establishment, and Simon Fraser 
had been building forts west of the Rocky Mountains from 1805 to 1807. 

John Jacob Astor was a native of Germany, who had migrated to 
England and from thence to New York in 1784. A profitable deal in furs 
convinced him that he had found the key to fortune, and with wonderful 
perspicacity he set about to secure a monopoly of the entire fur trade. He 
attempted a merger with the Northwest Fur Company, but was unsuc¬ 
cessful. He then set about preparing the enterprise which was to rival 
the other company. He proposed to found a station on the Columbia 
which would be connected with New York City by a string of posts across 
the continent, as well as by ship route around the Horn; this double sup¬ 
port was intended to control the trade, adequately supply the station, and 
form connections with the Orient. He also arranged commercial relations 
with Boranoff of the Russian-American Fur Company. Jefferson en¬ 
couraged Astor in his design. 

(2) The Organization of the Venture; Establishment on the Columbia. 
In June, 1810, the Pacific Fur Company was formed with Astor as 
president. Most of the other partners and men, by what proved to be a 
total mistake, were Canadians who had formerly been in the employ of 
the Northwest Company. Two expeditions were to set out simultaneously, 
one by land, the other by sea. William Price Hunt, one of the American 
partners, was to command the first; for the sea voyage, the ship Tonquin 
was secured, under the command of Captain Thorn, and with him sailed 
the other partners and the greater part of the men. Thorn, though a good 
navigator, was utterly unfitted to command such an expedition, and 
drove both passengers and crew to the verge of mutiny by his tyranny. 
When they arrived at the mouth of the Columbia, March 22, 1811, he 
needlessly sacrificed several of his crew in the attempt to find the 
channel. Finally entering, they began the building of a fort April 12, 
which was named Astoria. It was almost a year before the land party ap¬ 
peared. It had met with incredible hardships and mischance, and had not 
even been able to hold together. Those who finally reached Astoria, Feb¬ 
ruary 15, 1812, were hardly more than destitute fugitives. 

(3) Increasing Misfortunes. The enterprise seemed dogged from the 
first by inefficiency, misfortune and disloyalty. In June, 1811, the Ton¬ 
quin, while cruising along the (now Washington) coast, was captured 
by the Indians and in the fracas was blown up. The loss was a severe 
blow to the young post at Astoria. Before this, news had come of the 
Northwest Company’s building a fort on the Spokane River. As a counter 
move the Americans had to establish an interior post known as Fort 
Okanogan, under Alexander Ross, which was operated successfully. In 
May, 1812, the yearly ship (this time the Beaver) reached Astoria, 
bringing supplies. For a moment things looked bright. Interior posts 
would now be constructed and coast trade could be renewed. Hunt was put 



24 


HISTORY OF OREGON 


in charge of this, another great blunder, for a man loyal to his American 
employer was soon to be needed at Astoria. He cruised to Alaska, picking 
up furs, which he intended to dispose of in China. On his way he made 
the usual stop at Hawaii and learned of the outbreak of war between 
England and the United States. 

(4) War and the End of the American Establishment. Mackenzie, one 
of the Canadian partners, met a member of the Northwest Company at 
Spokane and learned from him that war had begun. He hurried back 
to Astoria, where anxious consultation was held as to what should be 
done. They concluded that Astor would be unable to send any more 
supply ships; that the Beaver had been wrecked; and that Astoria was 
liable to momentary seizure by a British warship. It was decided that the 
post be abandoned and that they return overland, but the American part¬ 
ners objected so strenuously that the departure was postponed until the 
following spring. This was the summer of 1813. In the meantime Hunt 
returned from Hawaii in a chartered vessel. Chagrined though he was 
to learn of the contemplated abandonment, he returned to the tropics in 
hopes of finding a ship of sufficient size to remove the property. While 
at Hawaii again he learned of the unhappy fate of the third supply ship, 
the Lark, which was wrecked on a coral reef, a total loss. Meanwhile, 
panic or disloyalty had again seized the partners at Astoria, and October 
16, 1813, Mackenzie and McDougal, acting in spite of the protests of 
others of the party, sold the establishment to the agent of the Northwest 
Company for $42,000. The smallness of the sum in comparison with the 
actual value of the property would suggest that dishonesty existed some¬ 
where. Many of the men and the Canadian partners took service at once 
with the Northwest Company. Of the others, a part returned to the East, 
while others took Indian wives and settled on the Willamette prairies, 
the original “first settlers,” along with one or two from Lewis and Clark’s 
party. November 30, 1813, the British man of war Raccoon did appear 
at Astoria, but found the British flag waving over it as a post of an Eng¬ 
lish fur company. In February, 1814, Hunt also returned, but finding that 
it was all over, likewise sailed away. The English vessel, Isaac Todd, 
appeared in the spring, 1814, bringing supplies for the post, now known 
as Fort George. 

(5) Summary; Restoration of Astoria , but End of Commercial Enter- 
P't'ise. The war effectually ended Astoria as a commercial venture, but it 
is hard to believe that this should have happened. The interior posts of 
the Pacific Fur Company had operated successfully. Franchere, an 
honest and unbiased man, wrote that all supplies and men could have been 
moved up the country, should danger threaten, leaving only the loss of the 
fort to be burned by an enemy ship, the- property to be reoccupied on its 
departure. By the treaty of Ghent (December 24, 1814), all possessions 
taken by either belligerent were returned, and Astoria again came under 
the United States flag. But it was a barren restoration. 

Although Astor made tentative efforts to resume his project, he could 
not secure the government aid which he deemed necessary. What connec¬ 
tion there was with the Northwest coast was that furnished by the 
whaling ships plying from Boston or other New England ports. New 
York’s attempt, in the person of John Jacob Astor, to compete on the 
Pacific Coast for commercial benefits had failed. But it stands a re¬ 
markable scheme, ably planned but poorly carried out; inspired by 
motives of personal profit certainly, but whose consequences, had it 
succeeded, would have been national. 




A TEACHERS’ OUTLINE 


25 


QUESTIONS 

1. Why was Winship’s commercial venture a failure? 

2. Who was John Jacob Astor? 

3. What was his idea relative to the northwest fur trade? 

4. Describe the organization and establishment of the Astor venture. 

5. When was Astoria founded? 

6. What were some of the misfortunes of the enterprise? 

7. What effect did the war with England have on the enterprise? 

8. Why was Astoria sold to the Northwest Fur Company? 

9. How did the treaty of Ghent affect Astoria? 

10. Why was the Astor venture a failure? 

Pupils’ List of Books : 

1. Chapman: pp. 40-48. 

2. Irving: Astoria. 

3. Johnson: pp. 135-163. 

4. Judson: pp. 47-57. 

5. Schafer: Pacific Northwest, pp. 71-78; 88-92. 

6. Horner: pp. 51-56. 

7. Carey: History of Oregon. 

Teachers’ Supplementary List: 

1. Bancroft: op. cit. II, 136-213. 

2. Coman: op. cit. I, 308-334. 

3. Chittenden : History American Fur Trade I, pp. 163-238. 

4. Lvman : Hist. Oregon, II, pp. 229-302; 337-350. 

5. Meany: Hist, of Washington, pp. 80-86. 

6. Schafer: Pacific Slope and Alaska, pp. 60-75. 



26 


HISTORY OF OREGON 


VI. THE HUDSON S BAY COMPANY IN 

OREGON 

(1) The Northwest Fur Company in Control (1814-1821). The col¬ 
lapse of the Astor enterprise left the control of the Pacific Northwest 
entirely in the hands of the Northwest Fur Company. It immediately 
began an expanding movement into the Rocky Mountains (April, 1814), 
which proceeded largely on the lines that Astor had planned. The chief 
problems they had to face were (1) the competition of independent Amer¬ 
ican trading vessels, (2) unsettled conditions in the Chinese market, 
(3) Indian hostility. Mackenzie, a former Astor partner, had charge of 
this interior department. The ability and energy of the Northwesters 
must be conceded, though their acts were often unscrupulous. The career 
of the Columbia River establishments is not brilliant, due principally to 
distracting .events elsewhere. 

(2) Contest With Hudson’s Bay Company; Merging of the Two Com¬ 
panies. With its American rival crushed, the Northwest Company having 
in mind a complete North American fur monopoly, prepared for a war 
with its older competitor of Hudson’s Bay. The latter’s territory was the 
immense region that swept northward and westward from Labrador to 
the Arctic Ocean. The younger company, organized at Montreal in 1783, 
controlled the Rocky Mountain region and the Pacific. Both companies 
were now encroaching on each other’s preserves, and a struggle began 
which was nothing else than a small war. It was ended finally only by 
government action in 1821, when a merger of the two companies was 
formed under the name of the older, and Astor’s scheme for a complete 
monopoly was realized, only it was not he, but his rivals, who had 
secured it. 

(3) Dr. McLoughlin’s Rule (1821-1832) ; the Days of Power. The sit¬ 
uation in Oregon now assumes a new form. Sir George Simpson is the 
Hudson’s Bay Company’s Governor, and Dr. John McLoughlin, a Scotch- 
Canadian, is sent to the Columbia as the company’s chief factor there. 

The Hudson’s Bay Company had been chartered by Charles II in 1670. 
It was now a century and a half old, and having had a profitable, if gener¬ 
ally apathetic career. Its policy was in general one to conserve the wilder¬ 
ness and the natives, depending on the normal condition of both for the 
continuance of their profits. To this end the company avoided a liquor 
trade and had no interest in colonization. The old company was vitalized 
by its union with this aggresive rival and, besides being merely a com¬ 
mercial concern, became an instrument of imperialism. 

McLoughlin assumed personal control in 1824. He at once moved the 
location of the post from Fort George (Astoria) to the more strategic 
position at Vancouver, and ordered a survey of the Columbia River. The 
company continued to build other forts throughout the region northward. 
Communication inland between the Fraser and the Columbia had been 
opened in 1813, and a coast route explored in 1824. The British grip 
seemed to be fastening tightly on the Oregon country. McLoughlin, wiser 
than his predecessor, Keith, saw the possibilities of agriculture as well 
as the limitations of the fur trade. He at once commenced to plant fields 



A TEACHERS’ OUTLINE 


27 


and rear herds, and in a few years was supplying all the post’s needs; 
not much later he was able to make shipments to the Russian settlements, 
and to the Kingdom of Hawaii. This seemed to be a settled purpose of 
the great factor, to continue a prosperous, permanent, agricultural settle¬ 
ment, even after the fur trade had been abandoned. 

In 1825-26 Fort Colville was established on the Columbia and Fort 
Langley on the Fraser in 1827. In 1829 McLoughlin took possession of 
Willamette Falls, and in 1832 a post was established on the Umpqua. 
Yearly throughout the great region thus occupied the fur brigades scat¬ 
tered from Fort Vancouver, and thither they returned with their peltries. 
In 1829 Governor Simpson journeyed through his Northwest dominions 
and returned to Canada convinced that settlement was possible and neces¬ 
sary, but, unfortunately for British interests, nothing was done at the 
time. In the same year, Dr. McLoughlin began his policy of settling 
retired servitors of the company on farms in the Willamette Valley. 
However, he knew that this country south of the Columbia would go at 
some time to the United States. 

(4) Dr . McLoughlin’s Rule (1832-1846); Decline of the Company. 
The year 1832 saw the attempted revival of American competition. Cap¬ 
tain Bonneville began his ill-starred endeavors, and Wyeth came to Ore¬ 
gon, there to receive courteous treatment from McLoughlin, but never¬ 
theless to be crowded out. The chief factor could tolerate no business 
rivals to his company, and in this first contest came off completely vic¬ 
torious. The year 1834 saw the beginning of another American advance 
in the person of the missionaries, while free trappers and other settlers 
were slowly increasing, particularly south of the Columbia. McLoughlin 
treated these almost without exception with kindness, and in 1836 aided 
them in the formation of the Willamette Cattle Company, to secure cattle 
from California. Though the weight of his displeasure can be seen in 
his affair with Ewing Young, the settlers sold their grain and other 
products to the post at Vancouver, and received fair prices. 

As an offset to American agricultural and stock activity, McLoughlin 
endeavored to establish in 1837 farms and herds in the Cowlitz country 
of modern Washington. In 1839, the Puget Sound Agricultural Company 
was formed to settle that region and secure it forever for England, but 
in 1841 the attempt was given up as a failure. The succeeding years saw 
waves of American immigration into Oregon, not only south of the Co¬ 
lumbia, but north in territory that the company had confidently expected 
to hold. Feeling between the Vancouver post and these settlers often 
became bitter, though the legal right of both to be there was unquestion¬ 
able. Dr. McLoughlin was accused by his company of unduly favoring the 
invaders, and at the same time attacked by many ungrateful Americans 
to whom his generosity is now unquestioned. The uncertainties of the 
boundary dispute added to the difficulties of the situation. This was 
finally settled by the treaty of 1846, fixing the 49° parallel as the line. 
The claims of the company for compensation for the property it would 
have to surrender were finally settled in 1863 by the United States 
government for something more than half a million dollars. 

For more than thirty years Oregon had been under the domination of 
British fur companies, a commercial domination, it is true, but dring 
the first two decades it was virtually absolute. Natives, employes, stran¬ 
gers, during that time were subject to an arbitrary authority in a region 



28 


HISTORY OF OREGON 


larger than France. The authority that Dr. McLoughlin wielded extended 
even to power of life and death. He controlled the savage tribes with 
sovereign power; his mastery of his employes had come to be unquestioned, 
and his treatment of strangers and rivals was conditioned only by the dic¬ 
tates of his generous nature and his obligations to his company. 

QUESTIONS 

1. What was the status of the Northwest Fur Company after the 
failure of the Astor enterprise? 

2. What problems did the company face? 

3. What was the cause of the war between the two great fur 
companies? 

4. Who was the chief factor of the Hudson’s Bay Company? 

5. What was the policy of this company? 

6. In what way was McLoughlin wiser than Keith? 

7. How did McLoughlin treat the competitors of his company? 

8. How did he treat the American missionaries and trappers? 

9. Tell about the boundary dispute. How was it settled? 

10. What was the extent of the authority of Dr. McLoughlin? 

Pupils’ List of Books : 

1. Chapman: pp. 49-53. 

2. Johnson: pp. 166-169. 

3. Judson: pp. 96-109. 

4. Schafer: Pacific Northwest, pp. 79-87. 

5. Horner: pp. 56-60. 

6. Carey: History of Oregon. 

7. Skinner: Adventurers of Oregon. 

8. Dye: McLoughlin and Old Oregon. 

Teachers’ Supplementary List: 

1. Bancroft: op. cit. II, pp. 430-445; 460-507. 

2. Coman: op. cit. I, 334-41; II, pp. 148-153, 160-166, 208-211, 233. 

3. Laut: Conquest of the Great Northwest, II, pp. 304-413. 

4. Lyman: op. cit. II, pp. 351-392. 

5. Meany: op. Cit. pp. 95-105. 



A TEACHERS’ OUTLINE 


29 


VII. AMERICAN TRAPPERS AND FUR 
TRADERS 

(1) First Period of Decline; the Missouri Fur Company. When the 
Louisiana purchase was made, Manuel Lisa was the most important of 
the interior fur traders. His headquarters was at St. Louis, which was 
then and continued to be the great fur market of the United States. 
Lisa welcomed the change to American authority, and in 1807 organized 
a trading expedition to the upper Missouri country. The next year he 
organized the Missouri Fur Company. In the years 1808 to 1810 
this company penetrated into the Western Rockies. The company 
was, nevertheless, destined to a checkered existence, being dissolved 
in 1812, reorganized in 1821, and then succumbing for good four years 
later. The reasons for the unhappy conditions of organized American 
fur trade were several: (1) The implacable opposition of the Black- 
feet, which forced the withdrawal of the Missouri Company from the 
Upper Missouri; (2) the cutthroat competition of independent traders 
and free trappers; (3) the rapid destruction of fur-bearing animals, 
particularly of the beaver, which was the one most sought; (4) unwise 
government methods in dealing with the Indians and the fur trade; (5) 
the privilege that Canadian trappers still exercised of trading south of 
49° parallel; (6) the failure of Astor’s transcontinental project. 

(2) Second Period; Revival of American Fur Companies (1822-1832). 
By 1822 the situation had changed somewhat for the better. The gov¬ 
ernment had abandoned the “factory system;” the cessation of trapping 
had permitted the furs to increase; foreign trappers had been excluded; 
and capital was more plentiful. Consequently, several new companies 
were formed with headquarters at St. Louis. The Missouri Company, 
revived under Pilcher, and others, again pushed into the upper Missouri 
country, though a crushing defeat by the Blackfeet in 1823 stopped com¬ 
plete expansion. General Ashley organized a company in 1822 which 
successfully exploited the country from the Yellowstone to Utah, following 
the Northwest Company’s method of sending parties out after furs 
instead of waiting for the Indians to bring them in. In the eastern ranges 
of the Rockies, operations of American and Hudson’s Bay trappers began 
to overlap. Then followed the purchase by Smith, Sublette and others of 
the Ashley interests in 1826. They reformed the organization into the 
Rocky Mountain Fur Company, which continued until 1839, when it was 
merged into the monopoly which had gradually been forming under 
Chouteau, Lisa’s former rival and later partner. 

In 1823 the American Fur Company was organized by the Astor inter¬ 
ests. Astor had never given up his design to control the American fur 
trade. Several small companies were taken over at once. It preempted 
the Missouri country, for the Rocky Mountain Company had transferred 
its operations to the regions around South Pass and Green River. So 
rapidly did Astor’s new enterprise expand that it became known as “The 
Company,” while outsiders were “the Opposition.” The Rocky Mountain 
Company, during its twelve years of life, secured furs to the value of 
half a million dollars; but the American Fur Company was shipping that 
many a year in the early thirties; its total receipts mounted into the 
millions. 



30 


HISTORY OF OREGON 


(3) The Second Decline (1835-1845) ; End of the Fur Period. By 
1834 Astor realized that the heyday of the fur trade was over. Not only 
was the demand for furs decreasing, but the supply, not only of beaver 
but of other animals, was nearing exhaustion. Buffalo hunting took the 
place of beaver trapping, but unrestricted competition had done its work, 
and the day of the independent trader was gone. The bitter rivalry of 
the American company between themselves had been one of their greatest 
weaknesses. Astor sold out his control to Chouteau and his associates in 
1839, who secured a complete monopoly by the purchase of two other 
companies in 1845. 

(4) The Free Trappers; Characteristics of the Trade. The essential 
difference between the British and the American system was that the 
first confined the fur industry to monopoly control, while the latter per¬ 
mitted the free competition of any one who wished to take part. This 
accounts for the great number of associations whether formally incorpo¬ 
rated or not, which entered the race for wealth in furs. Men worked for 
themselves, as partners, and as employes of companies. Names like 
Bridger, Kit Carson, Larpenteur, Farnham, Crooks, Meek, are but typical 
in their suggestion of adventure and achievement of the numbers who in 
this period combed the west in the hunt for furs. It was they who opened 
the unknown triangle between the Yellowstone and the Santa Fe trail, 
and who met the Hudson’s Bay trappers in the Eastern and Central 
Rockies in fierce contests that recalled the wars between the latter and the 
Northwesters. 

Furthermore, the British trappers were employes of the company, 
serving for a regular salary, while the American companies, in addition 
to their own employes, depended largely upon the free trappers, who 
scattered into the wilds and then came together at well known rendezvous, 
such as Ogden’s Hole, where they met the traders of the companies. 
British and American often used the same rendezvous. The Indians were 
constantly debauched with liquor to secure their furs, and the blame for 
this lies with the Americans. The trappers themselves usually gave them¬ 
selves up to a yearly debauch that left them penniless. Their numbers 
dwindled with the trade itself, and most of those who survived settled 
down at last, like Joseph Meek, on frontier farms and ranches. The 
virtues and vices of the profession were inherent in the industry itself, 
but its value as a factor in the development of the west must not preclude 
an acknowledgment of its iniquities and atrocities. Bravery, hardiness, 
resourcefulness, went hand in hand with a systematic swindling of the 
Indians and of each other. It was neither a time nor a trade for nice 
ethical standards, though here and there examples of a smoother, more 
pleasant side to contemplate, occurred. 

(5) Attempts to Enter Oregon; Jedediah Smith; Wyeth; Bonneville. 
A trader by the name of Ruddock claimed to have made a journey from 
the Missouri, by way of Santa Fe, to the mouth of the Columbia, but the 
first seriously planned scheme to challenge the Hudson’s Bay Company 
on the Oregon Coast was that of Ashley and Jedediah Smith. When Ashley 
retired from his company, Smith began operations in earnest. He was 
a man of superior training and ability, and to his work of trapping 
added the careful recording of his explorations. In 1828 he pushed 
through California into Southern Oregon. All went well until he reached 
the Umpqua, when the party was attacked by Indians, their supplies and 



A TEACHERS’ OUTLINE 


31 


furs captured, and all but three killed. These reached Vancouver in a 
pitiable condition, where McLoughlin received them, recovered their furs 
from the Indians, bought them at the current price, and equipped Smith 
to return east. Such was the latter’s gratitude for this generous treatment 
that he gave up his plans to invade the Oregon fur trade, and thereby- 
delayed for some years the American advance. 

Two later attempts were also to end in failure. In 1831-32 Nathaniel 
J. Wyeth organized in Boston a land and sea expedition. He led a small 
party across the continent to the Columbia, where they planned to await 
the ship. The expedition came to naught when it was learned that the 
ship had been wrecked. Wyeth now saw possibilities in salmon fishing 
as an offset to the uncertainties of the fur trade. Full of this plan, he 
returned to Boston, organized the Columbia River Fishing and Trading 
Company, and returned to Oregon in 1834. With him traveled the Jason 
Lee party. He was also accompanied by the naturalists, Nuttall and 
Townshend. This time his ship arrived, but the season for salmon was 
bad. For all McLoughlin’s personal kindliness, he was a ruthless commer¬ 
cial rival, and trade with the Indians failed. Wyeth gave up in 1836 and 
returned to Boston. On his first expedition he had been accompanied by 
John Ball, a school teacher, who remained at Vancouver, and in 1833 
opened the first school in the Oregon country. 

In 1831 Captain Bonneville, of the United States Army, was given 
leave of absence to undertake an exploring and trading expedition west 
of the Rockies. He organized a large party (1832), entered the Oregon 
country through the South Pass, and passed an unproductive winter in 
Idaho. After an unsuccessful season of trapping, he set out for the 
Columbia, arriving at Walla Walla in the spring of 1834, where he hoped 
to purchase supplies from the Hudson’s Bay Company. This was refused, 
the company being determined to force out all rival traders. In the 
summer of 1834, he led a party down the Snake and Columbia below 
Walla Walla, but the implacable opposition of the company forced him 
to withdraw. In 1835 he was obliged to confess his efforts a failure and 
returned to the east. 

(6) Concluding Summary. The country which Lewis and Clark had 
traversed was explored in detail by the agents of the Northwest and Hud¬ 
son’s Bay Companies. On the eastern ranges, and particularly south of the 
42° parallel, the work of examination was done by bands and individuals 
of American trappers. In the Green River country, about Bear and Salt 
Lakes, and in the Siskiyou Mountain regions, the two activities came in 
contact. Although it was the fur traders who opened the country, it was 
bona fide settlers who at the last won Oregon for the United States, and 
among these were many of the old trappers themselves. 




32 


HISTORY OF OREGON 


QUESTIONS 

1. What were the reasons for the decline of the American fur trade? 

2. Why did the fur trade revive in 1822? 

3. What was the difference between the British and American 
system? 

4. Who were the independent trappers? 

5. What were the characteristics of the fur trade? 

6. Describe three attempts by trappers to enter Oregon. 

7. What was the result of these attempts? 

8. Describe the establishment of the first school in the Oregon 
country. 

9. Who finally won Oregon for the United States? 

Pupils’ List of Books: 

1. Johnson: pp. 177-193. 

2. Judson: pp. 127-130; 58-82. 

3. Horner: pp. 60-66. 

4. Carey: History of Oregon. 

5. Laut: Story of the Trappers. 

6. Irving: Astoria. 

Teachers’ Supplementary List: 

1. Bancroft: II, pp. 446-459, 542-599. 

2. Coman: I, 242-55, 368-75, 302-307; II, 207-220. 

3. Chittenden: History American Fur Trade, Vol. II, Part IV (all), pp. 651- 

723, Notable Incidents and Characters in the History of the Fur Trade. 

4. Irving: Captain Bonneville. 

5. Schafer: Slope and Alaska, pp. 117-124. 

6. Thwaites (Editor) Early Western Travels. Vol. I, Franchere; Vol. VII, 

Ross’s “Oregon Letters;” Vol. XXI, Wyeth, Townshend. 



A TEACHERS’ OUTLINE 


33 


VIII. THE MISSIONARIES 

Before 1820 the government was becoming interested in Indian mis¬ 
sions. In that year the Rev. Jedidiah Morse recommended that teachers 
be sent to the western tribes. The removal of the eastern and southern 
Indians from their ancestral homes to lands and reservations set aside 
for them west of the Mississippi River aroused the sympathy of all 
observers. It was while the country was in this frame of mind that the 
Nez Perces in June, 1831, sent four of their tribe to the city of St. Louis 
to ask for teachers and the white man’s Book of God. They had heard of 
these from Lewis and Clark, and probably from other travelers and 
trappers. The Indian emissaries were kindly received and entertained. 
Two died in St. Louis and another on his journey homeward. One even¬ 
tually reached his people with the information that teachers would come. 
Their request had aroused the zeal of* the Christian Church. 

The Methodist Mission. The Methodists were the first to respond. 
Jason Lee and his nephew, Daniel Lee, were appointed to work in the 
Oregon field. Starting westward they joined Nathaniel Wyeth’s second 
expedition to Oregon, arriving in the Willamette Valley in the fall of 
1834. They came through the Nez Perce country and saw the people that 
had asked for teachers. They visited Dr. McLoughlin at Fort Vancouver. 
He desired them to locate where they might have the protection of the 
Hudson’s Bay Company in case of trouble with the Indians. Largely 
on his advice the Methodist Mission was located on the Willamette River, 
some ten miles north of Salem, in a country that is still called Mission 
Bottom. Buildings were erected and a school opened for the Calapooias. 
These primitive people were of an inferior stock, diseased and rapidly 
declining in numbers. A few members of coast tribes were taken to the 
mission, but without success. These died or returned to their people. 
Jason Lee began to realize that he had located the mission in a spot 
where it was bound to fail. Still the missionaries struggled on for a few 
years. Other missionaries came to reinforce the little group in 1837. 
Traders and settlers began to appear in Oregon. Lee wrote ardent letters 
to the East describing the Oregon country in glowing terms. Settlement 
and the building of a state seemed more important than saving the souls 
of a few miserable savages. Finally Jason Lee returned east, where he 
died, and the mission was closed. 

Upper Columbia Missions. Other denominations than the Methodists 
had been affected by the Nez Perces mission. Dr. Samuel Parker and Dr. 
Marcus Whitman came out to Oregon in 1835 under direction of the Board 
of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church. When assured of the 
need of teachers by the Indians, Dr. Whitman returned East to report, 
while Dr. Parker journeyed to Vancouver, visited the Hawaiian Islands 
and returned to New York in 1837. Meanwhile Dr. Whitman had been 
appointed to the Oregon missionary field. Accompanied by Mrs. Whitman 
and Mr. and Mrs. H. H. Spalding, he now hurried to Oregon eager to 
begin his work. W. H. Gray was also a member of the party, which 
was welcomed at Fort Vancouver early in the autumn, where the women 
remained while the mission buildings were being erected. The site chosen 
was near Walla Walla, at a place called by the Indians Waiilatpu. This 
was in the country of the Cayuse Indians, a people which were in every 




34 


HISTORY OF OREGON 


way preferable to the valley Indians. In 1837 crops of corn and vegeta¬ 
bles were being raised by the missionaries as well as by the Indians them¬ 
selves. Two years later the Rev. Cushing Eels and Elkanah Walker 
joined the mission. What seemed at first to be a promise of great success 
was, owing to a set of circumstances over which the missionaries had no 
control, destined to disastrous defeat in the Whitman massacre of 1847. 

The Catholic Missionaries. Meantime the French-Canadian trappers 
and employes of the Hudson’s Bay Company were asking for priests of 
their church to be sent to them. Fathers Blanchet and Demers began 
their missionary labors in the Oregon country in 1838. Missions were 
established on the Cowlitz River and at St. Paul on French Prairie. At 
the latter place were settled numerous families, the men of which had been 
in the employ of the Hudson’s Bay Company. In 1840 came Father 
DeSmet and established missions in the Bitter Root and Coeur d’Alene 
country of Idaho, which was then a part of the Oregon country. The 
brick church built by Father Blanchet at St. Paul in the forties is still 
used as a place of worship, the Presbyterians have left Whitman College 
as a memorial of their missions in Oregon, while the Methodists estab¬ 
lished Willamette University, the oldest educational institution west of the 
Rocky Mountains. 

QUESTIONS 

1. What was the quest of the four Nez Perce Indians? 

2. Tell of Jason Lee and the Methodist mission. 

3. Where did Marcus Whitman establish a mission? 

4. Give an account of the founding of this mission. 

5. What are the memorials of these missions? 

6. Where were the Catholic missions? 

Pupils’ List of Books: 

1. Chapma.n: op. cit. pp. 64-87, 99-107. 

2. Johnson: op. cit. pp. 194-212. 

3. Judson: op. cit. pp. 113-126. 

4. Schafer: Pacific Northwest, pp. 115-126. 

5. Horner: pp. 67-80. 

6. Carey : History of Oregon. 

Teachers’ Supplementary List: 

1. Bancroft: op. cit. II, pp. 534-538. 

2. Bancroft: Hist, of Oregon. I, pp. 78-138, 184-225, 315-348. 

3. Bashford: Oregon Missions (passim; use index). 

4. Lyman: History of Oregon, III, pp. 129-162, 419-426. 

5. O'Hara: Pioneer Catholic History of Oregon (passim; use index). 



A TEACHERS’ OUTLINE 


35 


IX. EARLY COLONIZATION 

In 1818 the United States and Great Britain entered into a treaty 
for the joint occupation of the Oregon country for a period of ten years. 
This treaty was renewed in 1827 with the proviso that either party to it 
might terminate it upon due notice to the other party. After its renewal 
there followed a long period during which the whole question lay dormant. 
Andrew Jackson was busy with other things. Yet many were interested 
in far-away Oregon, where a handful of trappers and traders, remnants 
of the Astor company and Wyeth’s two expeditions, kept interest alive. 
President Jackson, who intensely disliked all things Spanish or Mexican, 
which was almost the same thing, desired to purchase northern California, 
and sent Slocum to look at the Pacific country. Slocum came to Oregon in 
1836, visited the Methodist missions, described the Willamette Valley, 
went to Fort Vancouver, where he was entertained by Dr. McLoughiin, 
and came to thoroughly realize the agricultural possibilities of Oregon. 
His report to the government stimulated emigration to Oregon. He 
talked to the settlers and advised them to procure more livestock. Accord¬ 
ingly, the Willamette Cattle Company was organized in 1837. Ewing 
Young, who came overland to Oregon from California in 1834, was 
selected by the settlers to go to California and bring back a band of Span¬ 
ish cattle for the Oregon settlers. At Slocum’s invitation Ewing Young 
and his associates went to California on the ship Loriot, on which Slocum 
was returning, and in the autumn of 1837 brought back about eight hun¬ 
dred head of cattle, which were distributed among the settlers, the Hud¬ 
son’s Bay Company taking a considerable number. From that day to this 
Oregon has been increasingly a stock raising country. 

As the people of the East and Mississippi Valley slowly realized the 
easy prosperity of Oregon, the “Oregon fever” infected them with the 
increasing desire to migrate westward. Slocum’s report was printed, 
showing the agricultural possibilities of Oregon, and Congress renewed 
the discussion of the boundary question. Senator Linn of Missouri wanted 
to have a government established. The same year Jason Lee was in the 
East for reinforcement of the missions and his speeches and personality 
did much to awaken interest in the far west. Thomas J. Farnham and a 
small party crossed the plains to Oregon, in 1839, and on his return 
published an account of his travels and described the country. Petitions 
and memorials from the American settlers in Oregon began to reach 
Congress. These indicated an appreciation on the part of their signers 
in Oregon of the part they were destined to play in our history. At one 
place they state: “We flatter ourselves that we are the germ of a great 
state.” They foresaw the coming settlement of Oregon. Two considera¬ 
tions were actuating the people of Oregon to talk in this manner. They 
were talking to Congress. They wanted the protection of the United 
States and wanted to retain the lands they had taken up and begun to 
cultivate. Bills were introduced for the purpose, but could not be passed 
without violating the Joint Occupation Treaty of 1827 with Great Britain. 
The Oregon Provisional Emigration Society was organized to stimulate 
settlement, and at Lynn, Massachusetts, published a magazine called The 
Oregonian. It was short lived, and with its demise in 1839 came to an 
end these visionary schemes for the settlement of Oregon. Jason Lee had 
been busily engaged in getting together the company to reinforce the 




36 


HISTORY OF OREGON 


missions. In 1839 he returned to Oregon on the ship Lausanne with 
some fifty people, who were scattered among the Methodist field. The 
Willamette Mission, which had been removed from Mission Bottom to the 
present site of Salem, now became, through the efforts of Lee, an Ameri¬ 
can settlement, with hope of early American ascendency. Already were 
heard whispers concerning government. The American people have an 
instinct for politics. Once they began to plan for a government, the oppo¬ 
sition of the French and the Hudson’s Bay Company was ignored or 
outwitted. 

Charles Wilkes, an American naval officer, visited Oregon in 1841, 
and rode through the settled portions of the country, conferring with the 
settlers and observing their activities, shipbuilding, the catching and 
packing of salmon at the falls of the Willamette River by the Hudson’s 
Bay Company, farming on the French Prairie by the Canadians settled 
there, and the slowly forming nucleus of an American state around the 
mission of Jason Lee. Wilkes discouraged the plan for a government in 
Oregon because of the small number of Americans. He was probably too 
cautious. Before he had gone from Oregon, Fremont was in the region 
of the Rocky Mountains ‘‘pathfinding,” and Dr. Elijah White was plan¬ 
ning, with government support, the first immigration to Oregon. 

QUESTIONS 

1. What provision was a part of the treaty of 1818 between the 
United States and Great Britain? 

2. How was the treaty changed in 1827? 

3. Who was Slocum? 

4. How did he stimulate immigration to Oregon? 

5. Who established stock raising in Oregon? How? 

6. What events stimulated an interest in the Oregon country? 

7. Why was there a need for local government in Oregon? 

8. Tell about Charles Wilkes. 

Pupils’ List of Books : 

1. Chapman : op eit. pp. 5^-63. 

2. Johnson: op. cit. pp. 213-220 (also 177-193). 

3. Judson : op. cit. pp. 143-152. 

4. Schafer: Pacific Northwest, pp. 105-141. 

5 Carey : Histoi*y of Oregon. 

Teachers’ Supplementary List: 

1. Bancroft: Northwest Coast, II, 685-712. 

2. Bancroft: Hist, of Oregon, I, pp. 1-26; 66-77; 154-183. 

3. Lyman: op. cit. pp. 194-220, 229-231. 

4. Schafer: Pacific Slope and Alaska, pp. 135-155. 

5. Hough, Emerson : The Covered Wagon (a novel that gives vivid descrip¬ 

tion of emigrant train along the Oregon Trail.) 

6. Foote: A Picked Company (a novel). 



A TEACHERS’ OUTLINE 


37 


X. THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 

The arrival of Dr. Elijah White’s company, constituting the first emi¬ 
gration overland to Oregon, more than doubled the American population 
in Oregon and gave that element a slight majority in the colony. 

For a long time, several years, there had been a desire on the part 
of some for a government. The matter had run along without anything 
being done. 

In the year 1841, Ewing Young, who came to Oregon with Hall 
Jackson Kelly, died, leaving property, but no heirs in Oregon. As there 
was no government, no disposition could be made of his estate in the 
manner in which all were familiar, namely, the probating of his estate, 
which required a judicial procedure. The few settlers who came together 
at the funeral were doubtless disturbed at this state of affairs. They, it 
is said, issued an invitation for a meeting to determine what should be 
done with the numerous cattle constituting Young’s estate. On the 17th 
of February, 1841, the meeting was held. A committee was appointed to 
draw up an organic law and rules for their guidance on the following day. 
Dr. Babcock, of the Methodist Mission, was elected probate judge. Pro¬ 
vision was also made for the appointment of a probate clerk, a recorder 
or keeper of the records, a sheriff and three constables. On the 15th of 
April, 1841, Dr. Babcock appointed an administrator or custodian for the 
estate of Ewing Young. This was probably the first official act of any 
American government west of the Rocky Mountains. 

The committee appointed to draw up the organic act and laws did 
nothing. Father Blanchet, the chairman, declined to take any action, and 
when the second meeting was called in June, 1841, he resigned. The next 
meeting was set for October, 1841, when it was hoped that the committee 
would be ready with its report. Before the time of the meeting Lieutenant 
Wilkes visited Oregon, as we have seen, advised the American settlers 
and missionaries against the formation of any government and the Octo¬ 
ber meeting was not held. A year elapsed. In the fall came into the valley 
the first immigration under the leadership of Dr. White, the newly 
appointed Indian subagent for Oregon. Was there need of further organ¬ 
ization of government? This was the question. It was discussed during 
the winter. The politically minded began to search for opportunity to 
bring up the matter again. 

In that day the prairies of Oregon were covered with wild grass, dense 
and several feet in height. These prairies covered a large portion of 
Marion county, where the settlements were located. There were no fences. 
Stock wandered away to feed and were soon lost to sight. Moreover, in 
this dense cover lurked the wild beasts of prey, the coyote, the timber 
wolf, the cougar or mountain lion, lynx and bear. Much stock was lost, 
especially to the wolves. Even to this day these fierce wild dogs yearly 
take a large toll of the farmers’ sheep and cattle around the edges of the 
Willamette valley. To make some provision for checking these depreda¬ 
tions, the famous “wolf meeting” was called February 2, 1843, to meet 
at the Oregon Institute (Salem), on the second Monday in March, 1843. 
Here it was resolved to offer bounties for the extermination of wild ani¬ 
mals of prey. After the ostensible purpose of the meeting had been carried 
out, a further resolution was offered to appoint a committee “to take 
into consideration the propriety of taking steps for the civil and military 
protection of the colony,” which was duly carried. 




38 


HISTORY OF OREGON 


Was there need of further organization? Dr. McLoughlin and the 
Hudson’s Bay Company were opposed. Father Blanchet, as the adviser of 
the French, now settled in considerable numbers on the Prairie, had 
withdrawn from active and open participation in the organization for 
the reason that he also was opposed to the plan. Lieutenant Wilkes of the 
United States Navy had been opposed. The Methodists, too, seem at first 
to have been opposed. When it came time for the meeting they generally 
favored the proposed plan. 

Champoeg was a trading post on the Willamette some twenty miles 
above Oregon City and somewhat farther from the Methodist Mission 
at Chemeketa (Salem). It was near the center of the settlements in the 
valley. Thither on May 2, 1843, gathered a notable company of about 
one hundred men. Americans and French were in about equal numbers. 
What motives brought them together? How can we explain their votes? 

Is it not probable that many motives were appealed to for support? 
The French were almost unanimously opposed to any plan of organiza¬ 
tion. The same can not be said of the Americans. Many prominent and 
influential Americans were not present. How can we best explain their 
absence? Of those who came to the meeting we know but little concerning 
their views. Were they following the leaders? Did they vote to end the 
long domination of the Hudson’s Bay Company? Were they voting as 
American patriots for an American plan of government? Did the relig¬ 
ious element enter into their voting? These are some of the questions 
which need more light. 

After some delay in counting the votes, it was ascertained that a 
little more than one-half of those present were in favor of the establish¬ 
ment of a provisional government. In order to understand clearly how 
these frontiersmen went about the task of organization the student 
should read again the second paragraph of the Declaration of Indepen¬ 
dence for the theory of government therein contained. Like all others 
in American history, the Oregon provisional government was based upon 
“consent of the governed.” It is this sanction, this compact, that makes 
it binding upon those who frame and ratify it. 

Officers having been selected, the meeting adjourned to meet again 
on July 5, 1843, for the purpose of ratification. 

On that date the people again assembled at Champoeg where the 
organization was “approved by the people.” Oregon was divided into 
four districts called Twality, Yamhill, Clackamas, and Champoeg. The 
jurisdiction of the provisional government extended from forty-two 
degrees north latitude to the southern boundary of the Russian claims 
in latitude fifty-four degrees forty minutes north, and from the Pacific 
Ocean on the west to the summit of the Rocky Mountains on the east. 

The formation of the provisional government probably greatly stimu¬ 
lated American immigration to Oregon when the people realized that here 
was the kind of government to which they had been used. We know, too, 
that the ascendancy of American ideals and opinion growing rapidly from 
the day the provisional government was organized had a deciding influ¬ 
ence in settling the boundary dispute with Great Britain. 

When the fall immigration arrived in 1843 some able men were added 
to the little group of leaders in Oregon. Among these were Peter Hard¬ 
man Burnett, who afterwards went to California where he became the 



A TEACHERS’ OUTLINE 


39 


first governor of that state; Jesse Applegate, who played a prominent 
part in putting the provisional government on a sound basis; J. W. 
Nesmith, afterwards Senator; Daniel Waldo and others. 

There was great rejoicing and some dissatisfaction when the boundary 
was fixed in 1846. Affairs in Oregon went on smoothly until the Whitman 
massacre in the fall of 1847. A year later the United States government 
recognized Oregon by organizing it into a territory. 


QUESTIONS 


1. What was the result of the arrival of Dr. White’s company in 
Oregon? 

2. What question arose among the settlers soon after the death of 
Ewing Young? 

3. How was this question settled? 

4. What was the first official act of this new government in Oregon? 

5. What was the “Wolf Meeting”? 

6. What action was taken by this meeting? 

7. Who opposed further organization? 

8. Why was Champoeg chosen as the place of meeting? 

9. Where is Champoeg? 

10. What was the date of meeting at Champoeg? 

11. Give the result of this meeting? 

12. What was the result of the formation of a provisional government 
in Oregon? 


Pupils’ List of Books : 

1. Chapman: .op. cit. pp. 88-98, 108-112, 121-125. 

2. Johnson: op. cit. pp. 213-231. 

3. Judson: op. cit. pp. 158, 250. 

4. Schafer: Pacific Northwest, pp. 157-172. 

5. Carey: History of Oregon. 


Teachers’ Supplementary List: 


1. 

2 . 
s. 

4. 


Bancroft: Hist, of Oregon, I, pp. 292-314, 425-445, 470-507 
Lyman: op. cit. Ill, pp. 233-314, 371-394 

Schafer: Pacific Slope and Alaska, pp. 155- „ A . . 

Clark- The Oregon Provisional Government (Univ. of Oregon Bulletin). 



40 


HISTORY OF OREGON 


XI. OREGON BOUNDARY DISPUTE 

In preceding parts of this outline we have already discussed the events 
which formed the basis of the respective claims of Great Britain and the 
United States to the Oregon country. As we have seen, these were based 
upon discovery, exploration and settlement. There remains for our con¬ 
sideration the matter of the settlement of the overlapping claims of these 
two countries to the territory involved. 

Great Britain and the United States entered into a treaty on October 
20, 1818, for the joint occupation of the Oregon country. This document 
also fixed forty-nine degrees north latitude as the boundary between 
the two countries from the Lake of the Woods to the Stony (Rocky) 
Mountains. This first joint occupation treaty was to remain in effect 
for a period of ten years, during which period the citizens of both nations 
might traffic in Oregon on equal terms. 

By a treaty between the United States and Spain dated February 22, 
1819, latitude forty-two degrees north w T as fixed as the boundary between 
American and Spanish claims on the Pacific. By this treaty the United 
States acquired the accrued claims of Spain to any territory north of 
forty-two. These Spanish claims were considerable, and were based 
upon discovery and exploration, as we have seen in preceding parts of 
this outline. 

Russia and the United States entered into a treaty, signed at St. 
Petersburg, April 17, 1824, fixing the southern boundary of the Russian 
claims on the Pacific at fifty-four degrees forty minutes north latitude, 
which henceforth became the northern boundary of Oregon. The next 
year Great Britain and Russia made a similar treaty, fixing the boundary 
at the same place. 

Before the time for the Joint Occupation Treaty to expire, the signa¬ 
tories thereto on August 6, 1827, renewed the same, this time for an 
indefinite period, with the proviso that either nation, that is to say, the 
United States or Great Britain, might terminate it upon giving certain 
notice to the other party. 

On July 2, 1821, the English parliament passed an act for the regula¬ 
tion of the “fur trade and establishing a criminal jurisdiction within 
certain parts of North America.” The statute 43 Geo. Ill, establishing 
civil and criminal jurisdiction in parts of Canada, was by this act 
“extended over the territory of the Hudson’s Bay Company in Oregon.” 
It would thus appear that England, more than twenty years before the 
organization of the Provisional Government at Champoeg, attempted 
to provide law for the civil and criminal jurisdiction of Oregon. Such 
law, however, was intended only for her own subjects. George Canning, 
British minister of foreign affairs, wanted the Columbia River from its 
mouth up to latitude forty-nine degrees north as the boundary between 
the two countries. Negotiations were carried on for the settlement of 
the dispute in 1824, and 1826-27, but Great Britain would not give 
way to American demands for 49 degrees, and so no boundary could be 
arranged. 

The visit of Lieutenant Wilkes has already been mentioned. On 
his return east, he made a report to the government in which he described 
the Oregon country, emphasized the importance of harbors on Puget 




A TEACHERS’ OUTLINE 


41 


Sound, and contended that the United States should have the whole 
territory. This report came at an opportune time and greatly strength¬ 
ened the determination of the country to hold fast. 

In the meantime, after Wilkes’ departure in 1841, Americans began 
to pour into Oregon. Each year, as we have seen, the number of immi¬ 
grants increased. In 1843 came the vote of the settlers, expressing 
American preference. The Oregon question, which had lain more or less 
dormant in Congress, despite the efforts of Senators Linn and Benton 
and others to secure legislation on it, was suddenly revived in the presi¬ 
dential campaign of 1844, when the platform of the Democratic party 
contained planks on Oregon; during the campaign “Fifty-four Forty or 
Fight” became the rallying cry. That is to say, the Democratic leaders 
proposed to establish fifty-four degrees and forty minutes north latitude 
as the boundary between the United States and Canada or go to war about 
it. We have long since learned, however, that political platforms and 
campaign slogans do not always mean what they say, and it is doubtful 
if the two countries would have gone to war over the Oregon boundary. 
There is no evidence that Great Britain receded from Canning’s position 
on account of Polk’s election. Doubtless the determining factor was the 
unprecedented rapidity with which American settlers were arriving in 
the Far West. Great Britain pursued a pacific policy and sent some of her 
ablest statesmen to attempt a settlement. Sir George Simpson, head or 
governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company during his visit to Oregon, had 
seen but few Americans. They began to arrive the same year that Sir 
George returned to England. British statesmen did not believe that Ore¬ 
gon would be settled for a long time. The country lay three thousand miles 
away from the American frontier. The Rocky Mountains were thought 
to be an impassable barrier. Meanwhile, in Oregon, had occurred a 
significant event, one which did as much to enhance American as it 
did to diminish British prestige. On the 15th of August, 1844, the 
British monopoly, the Hudson’s Bay Company, by agreement came under 
the protection of and recognized the Provisional Government. Learning 
something of these events, Britain sent a warship to Puget Sound 
for the purpose of ascertaining the true state of affairs in Oregon. 
Lieutenant Peel visited Fort Vancouver and the American settlements 
in the Willamette Valley. He returned to England and reported “the 
dominance of the Americans in political matters, the extent of their 
settlements southward, the fact that they had penetrated to Puget Sound 
in the north, the feeling of helplessness on the part of the Hudson’s 
Bay Company,” and other matters. Great Britain receded from Canning’s 
position and proposed the present boundary. This was formulated in 
the treaty which was ratified by the United States Senate, June 15, 1846. 
Three years later Oregon became a territory. 



42 


HISTORY OF OREGON 


QUESTIONS 

1. What were the provisions of the treaty of 1818 relative to the joint 
occupation of Oregon? 

2. What were the provisions of the treaty with Spain in 1819? 

3. How was the northern boundary of the Oregon country fixed 
54° 40'? 

4. What action was taken relative to the treaty of joint occupation 
in 1827? 

5. What action did parliament take with reference to a government 
for Oregon? 

6. What was the effect of the report of Lieutenant Wilkes? 

7. What was the rallying cry in the presidential campaign of 1844? 

8. Describe the events leading up to the establishment of the present 
northern boundary of Oregon. 

Pupils’ List of Books : 

1. Johnson: pp. 155-163, 170-193, 263-277. 

2. Judson: pp. 143-166. 

3. Schafer: Pacific Northwest, pp. 173-185 (also 88). 

4. Carey: History of Oregon. 

Teachers’ Supplementary List : 

1. Bancroft: Hist. Oregon, I, pp. 573-599. 

2. Lyman: III, pp. 343-370, 427-442. 

3. Schafer: Pacific Slope and Alaska, pp. 167-172. 



A TEACHERS’ OUTLINE 


43 


XII. THE CAYUSE WAR 

As we have already noted, the Presbyterian Mission at Waiilatpu, 
near Walla Walla, was established by Dr. Marcus Whitman in 1836. 
A little later other missions were established farther north. All of these 
stations were out of the route of travel to Oregon, settlers coming down 
the Columbia River passing to the south of them. Hence, while Oregon 
continued to grow these missions of the interior remained mere outposts 
of civilization, surrounded by a savage country and a savage people. 
Finally the board of missions in Boston ordered them closed. It was 
late in the year 1842 when the news of this great discouragement reached 
Dr. Whitman, and despite the nearness of winter, with one companion 
he set out for the East to persuade the board to continue the mission 
work. Hurrying on through deep snows of the Rocky Mountains and the 
Great Plains, it was spring before he reached civilization. The Presby¬ 
terian board relented and Dr. Whitman retained his missions. Rein¬ 
forcements were to be sent out and the doctor hurried on to Washington 
to induce the government to aid the emigrants to Oregon by sending 
troops to guard their travel and building forts along the Oregon Trail. 
He returned to Oregon with the immigration of 1843. 

Meanwhile the Indians in the Walla Walla country, a strong and 
vigorous tribe, called the Cayuses, were growing restive. The beginning 
of their discontent is somewhat difficult to ascertain. From the time 
of Dr. Whitman’s return with the large immigration of 1843, he was 
gradually losing control over them. The Indians did not want the 
country settled by the whites. Somehow they associated the trains of 
immigrants, which grew larger year by year, with the doctor’s visit to the 
East. Each year as autumn came on the Cayuse country was filled with 
an unending train of white men, occupying the Indian land. Too, the 
Cayuses were quick to discern the bitter rivalry which existed between 
the Presbyterian missionaries and the Catholics, who had followed them 
into that field. The immigrants of 1847 were infected with measles, 
not a serious disease to the white man, but a deadly one to the Indian* 
owing to his manner of living and the kind of treatment used. All 
primitive peoples use the same treatment for many ailments. This 
was so with the Cayuses. They had recourse to their sweat houses. 
These were low structures, usually consisting of a few sticks over which 
the Indian could spread his blankets. Inside were placed several heated 
stones, which raised the temperature within to a high degree. Into this 
house the sick Indian entered. Water was sprinkled on the heated 
stones, so that great quantities of steam was produced. When the patient 
was in profuse perspiration he emerged quickly and running to the bank 
of the stream, on which the sweat houses were invariably located, he 
plunged into the icy water. This process was kill or cure, and was 
repeated until the patient was convalescent or dead. With a malady like 
the measles the mortality was very high. Scores of the Cayuses died 
while the whites recovered. Doctor Whitman ministered alike unto both 
races. The Indians could not but observe that whereas the whites, 
mostly children, recovered and went on west to occupy more and more 
of the Indian land, but few Indians regained their normal health. Soon, 
they must have reasoned, there would be no Indians at all, and the land 
would be filled with the white men. 



44 


HISTORY OF OREGON 


There is a great deal about the Whitman massacre that we do not 
understand yet, but somewhere in this maze of intricacies the Cayuse 
determined upon the death of Doctor Whitman and the members of his 
mission. On November 29, 1847, without warning the mission at Waiilatpu 
was attacked, and nine people, including Mrs. Whitman, were murdered. 
Josiah Osborn escaped with his wife and infant child by taking up the 
boards of the floor and hiding under the house, making their escape from 
the mission at night. Many, including several women, were carried away 
by the savages and treated with indescribable cruelty. Through the 
efforts of Peter Skeen Ogden, of the Hudson’s Bay Company, the sur¬ 
vivors were rescued from the Indians and brought down to the valley. 

There was great excitement in the Willamette valley when the news of 
the massacre was received. Immediately there was a call to arms. Every 
man who could leave his family hastened to Oregon City where the First 
Oregon Volunteer Infantry was quickly recruited, supplies were secured 
from the Hudson’s Bay Company at Fort Vancouver, and a punitive 
expedition sent against the Cayuses with orders from the provisional 
government to arrest the murderers and bring them down to the valley 
for trial. The culprits, with their friends, fled hither and thither. Battles 
were fought. It was difficult to follow the flight of the murderers, 
who were shielded by their friends. At last it was agreed that certain 
Indians were to be given up on receiving assurances of a fair trial. 
These were brought down to Oregon City where the District Court of the 
United States for the Territory of Oregon had its seat. A grand jury 
was duly impanelled, which returned indictments against the Whitman 
murderers, counsel was appointed for them, they were tried before a 
jury, found guilty and hanged. 

There is some evidence that the Cayuses, in order to draw off the 
expedition sent against them, attempted to stir up the Indians in the 
Willamette Valley to attack the settlements when most of the able bodied 
men were east of the mountains. Early in March, 1848, two Cayuse 
scouts appeared at the encampment of the Klamath and Molallas on the 
Abiqua River in Marion County and sought to stir them up to attack 
the settlements. In this they were unsuccessful. The settlers were 
alarmed, however, and demanded that the Klamaths return to their own 
country. This they refused to do until properly chastised. This closed 
the Indian troubles until the breaking out of the Yakima Indian War in 
1855. 



A TEACHERS' OUTLINE 


45 


QUESTIONS 

1. Why was the mission near Walla Walla ordered to be closed? 

2. What did Dr. Whitman do when he heard that the mission was to 
be closed? 

3. What caused the Cayuses to become restive? 

4. What did the epidemic of measles have to do with the outbreak? 

5. Describe the Whitman massacre. 

6. Where was the First Oregon Volunteer Infantry organized? 

7. What was the result of the punitive expedition against the Cayuses| 

Pupils’ List of Books: 

1. Chapman: pp. 134-136. 

2. Johnson: pp. 299-306. 

3. Schafer: Pacific Northwest, pp. 191-196. 

4. Carey: History of Oregon. 

Teachers’ Supplementary List: 

1. Bancroft: Hist, of Oregon, I, pp. 700-754. 

2. Lyman: IV, pp. 41-64. 

3. Schafer: Pacific Slope and Alaska, pp. 177-180. 

4. Victor: Early Indian Wars of Oregon, pp. 1-266. 



46 


HISTORY OF OREGON 


XIII. OREGON BECOMES A STATE 

The administration of President James K. Polk was a period of great 
national expansion. Texas was admitted to the Union on issues made 
in the campaign in which he was elected. California and other parts 
of the Southwest became American during his term of office, and lastly 
the Oregon boundary was settled in conformity with American desires. 
In 1848, Congress by legislation organized the Territory of Oregon and 
President Polk appointed Joseph Lane of Indiana as governor. Early 
in 1849 he arrived in Oregon, and the territorial government was put 
into operation. 

In the same year gold sent many settlers of Oregon to California, 
where the precious metal had been found the year before near the present 
site of Sacramento. So many people arrived in California from all over 
the world that the next year, 1850, that state was admitted to the Union. 

Oregon, too, during this period, was rapidly filling with population. 
With the growth of numbers the institutions of civilization appeared. 
The missionaries gave way to the efforts of organized churches. Today 
in many parts of Western Oregon are'to be seen the deserted edifices 
which were in pioneer days the homes of prosperous and influential 
rural churches. With the movement of population toward the cities 
grew up academies and colleges of pioneer times. Willamette and Pacific 
Universities were early in the field of higher education. Eastern and 
Southern Oregon began settlements. The common schools generally were 
organized in Oregon about 1854. The even tenor of the times was broken 
a few times by Indian outbreaks. After the chastisement of the Cayuses, 
the savages were quiet until the outbreak of the Yakima and Rogue 
River Indian wars in 1855-56. The former war was fought in what is 
now the State of Washington. The troops engaged were drawn very 
largely from the settlers in Oregon. The Rogue River trouble had been 
a persistent one from the earliest days of Oregon history. Even the 
Hudson’s Bay Company, with all its consideration for the Indians, had 
serious altercations with these tribes. All white men who had traveled 
through their country had considered them well named. After these wars 
the most serious of Indian troubles occurred in the seventies, in the Modoc 
War, during which many troops were killed and victory and leadership 
often lay with the savages. 

During the period from 1849-1859, material well-being and progress 
were the leading characteristics of the times. Agriculture and stock- 
raising became the principal pursuits in the Willamette Valley. Many 
stockmen drove large herds of cattle to the grass ranges of Eastern 
Oregon. Sheep raising, which called for much range, also thrived there. 
Wheat raising became the farmers’ chief reliance. Land was rapidly 
cleared and more substantial houses were erected. Already there was 
talk of railroads, and the Oregon legislature granted charters to railroad 
companies. 

Slavery, while it did not come to be a leading issue in Oregon politics, 
nevertheless was the cause of party alignment. Before the organization 
of the Republican party in Oregon in 1856, the anti-slavery elements 
were found among the Whigs, a few Democrats and perhaps here and 
there a Free Soiler, but chiefly among the Know-Nothing, or American 
party. This was largely an anti-slavery party, although its earlier 




A TEACHERS’ OUTLINE 


47 


platforms had made no mention of slavery and it had drawn its adherents 
from the South as well as from the North. After the organization and 
declaration of principles of the Republican party at Philadelphia, in 
1856, all the anti-slavery elements in politics in Oregon were drawn into 
the new party. The people of Oregon from the organization of the 
provisional government, the charter of which had contained an expression 
against slavery drawn from the Ordinance of 1787, were opposed to 
slavery, although a large part of the population of the territory came 
originally from southern states, especially Virginia, North Carolina, Ten¬ 
nessee, Kentucky, and Missouri. When finally the question of slavery 
was submitted to the people of Oregon, under the doctrine of “squatter 
sovereignty” of Stephen A. Douglas, the vote was decisively negative. 

The first bill in Congress to admit Oregon to the Union was presented 
by Joseph Lane, formerly governor, who resigned to become Oregon’s 
delegate in the national legislature. But the slavery question was the 
main topic of discussion in Congress and for a time Oregon received little 
consideration. Finally the Oregon territorial legislature passed a bill 
authorizing the calling of a constitutional convention to frame a consti¬ 
tution for Oregon without waiting for the sanction of Congress. This 
body met at Salem and drafted the organic law, which was submitted to 
and approved by the people at the November election, 1857. Next year 
the constitution went into effect, but it was not until February 14, 1859, 
that Congress finally admitted Oregon as one of the states of the Union. 


QUESTIONS 

1. What were some of the events of Polk’s administration? 

2. What were the results of the discovery of gold in California? 

3. What educational institutions were established in Oregon? 

4. What trouble was had with the Rogue River Indians? 

5. Describe the Modoc War. 

6. What industries grew up in Oregon? 

7. How did slavery affect politics in Oregon? 

8. Who presented the first bill in Congress to admit Oregon as a 
state? 

9. Where and when was the Oregon constitution drafted? 

10. When did Oregon become a state? 


Pupils’ List of Books: 

1. Chapman: op. cit., pp. 137-153. 

2. Johnson: op. cit., pp. 278-287, (287-291) 292-294. 

3. Schafer: Pacific Northwest, pp. 207-218. 

4. Carey: History of Oregon. 

Teachers’ Supplementary List: 

1. Bancroft: Hist, of Oregon, I, pp. 755-783. 

2. Lyman: op. cit. IV, pp. 92-108, 248-251. 

3. Schafer: Pacific Slope and Alaska, pp. 333-335. 






















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